"I have been now ever since my return engaged in a very presumptuous work, and I know no one individual who would not say a very foolish one. I was so struck with the distribution of the Galápagos organisms , etc., that I determined to collect blindly every sort of fact which could bear any way on what are species . I have read heaps of agricultural and horticultural books , and have never ceased collecting facts . At last gleams of light have come, and I am almost convinced ( quite contrary to the opinion I started with) that species are not ( it is like confessing a murder ) immutable… I think I have found out ( here’s presumption !) the simple way by which species become exquisitely adapted to various ends . You will groan , and think to yourself, “on what a man have I been wasting my time and writing to .” I should , five years ago , have thought so ."
~ Charles Darwin – letter to Joseph Hooker
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