The form of the orange-tree, the cocoa-nut, the palm, the mango, the tree-fern, the banana, will remain clear and separate; but the thousand beauties which unite these into one perfect scene must fade away: yet they will leave, like a tale heard in childhood, a picture full of indistinct, but most beautiful figures.
Where these words come from
- 95% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
- Journal of Researches / The Voyage of the Beagle (1845 edition); Exact wording and attribution checked. Travel observations of tropical forests and coral islands; selected passages express wonder and aesthetic impressions.
- Journal of Researches / The Voyage of the Beagle (1845 edition)
More from Charles Darwin
See allIt may turn out a mare’s nest, but I have often incidentally observed curious facts when making what I call “a fool’s experiment”.
Charles DarwinI have steadily endeavoured to keep my mind free so as to give up any hypothesis, however much beloved (and I cannot resist forming one on every subject), as soon as facts are shown to be opposed to it.Charles DarwinDelight itself, however, is a weak term to express the feelings of a naturalist who, for the first time, has wandered by himself in a Brazilian forest.Charles DarwinA most paradoxical mixture of sound and silence pervades the shady parts of the wood. The noise from the insects is so loud, that it may be heard even in a vessel anchored several hundred yards from the shore; yet within the recesses of the forest a universal silence appears to reign.Charles DarwinIt is easy to specify the individual objects of admiration in these grand scenes; but it is not possible to give an adequate idea of the higher feelings of wonder, astonishment, and devotion, which fill and elevate the mind.Charles DarwinThus do we see the soft and gelatinous body of a polypus, through the agency of the vital laws, conquering the great mechanical power of the waves of an ocean which neither the art of man nor the inanimate works of nature could successfully resist.Charles Darwin
Charles DarwinI have steadily endeavoured to keep my mind free so as to give up any hypothesis, however much beloved (and I cannot resist forming one on every subject), as soon as facts are shown to be opposed to it.Charles DarwinDelight itself, however, is a weak term to express the feelings of a naturalist who, for the first time, has wandered by himself in a Brazilian forest.Charles DarwinA most paradoxical mixture of sound and silence pervades the shady parts of the wood. The noise from the insects is so loud, that it may be heard even in a vessel anchored several hundred yards from the shore; yet within the recesses of the forest a universal silence appears to reign.Charles DarwinIt is easy to specify the individual objects of admiration in these grand scenes; but it is not possible to give an adequate idea of the higher feelings of wonder, astonishment, and devotion, which fill and elevate the mind.Charles DarwinThus do we see the soft and gelatinous body of a polypus, through the agency of the vital laws, conquering the great mechanical power of the waves of an ocean which neither the art of man nor the inanimate works of nature could successfully resist.Charles DarwinMore inspiration
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Frederick Douglass
Eleanor RooseveltNo one can make you feel inferior without your consent.Eleanor RooseveltLittle strokes fell great oaks.Benjamin FranklinEnergy and persistence conquer all things.Benjamin FranklinWell done is better than well said.Benjamin FranklinIf there is no struggle, there is no progress.Frederick Douglass