I have rarely read anything which has interested me more, though I have not read as yet more than a quarter of the book proper. From quotations which… - Charles Darwin

After my return to England it appeared to me that by following the example of Lyell in Geology, and by collecting all facts which bore in any way on the variation of animals and plants under domestication and nature, some light might perhaps be thrown on the whole subject. My first note-book was opened in July 1837. I worked on true Baconian principles, and without any theory collected facts on a wholesale scale, more especially with respect to domesticated productions, by printed enquiries, by conversation with skilful breeders and gardeners, and by extensive reading. When I see the list of books of all kinds which I read and abstracted, including whole series of Journals and Transactions, I am surprised at my industry. I soon perceived that selection was the keystone of man's success in making useful races of animals and plants. But how selection could be applied to organisms living in a state of nature remained for some time a mystery to me.

Vox populi, vox Dei is Latin for "The voice of the people is the voice of God". "Sarcode" is an archaic term for protoplasm.

The sight of a feather in a peacock’s tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!