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Who really said it

There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved

Written by Charles Darwin 1809–1882 · English naturalist · author of On the Origin of Species
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This is the last sentence of On the Origin of Species, published on 24 November 1859 — the final words of chapter XIV, ‘Recapitulation and Conclusion’, and of the book itself. The wording above is the first edition, and that detail matters more than it looks: beginning with the second edition of January 1860, Darwin inserted the words ‘by the Creator’ after ‘originally breathed’, and by the sixth edition of 1872 ‘this planet has gone cycling on’ had become ‘circling on’. Quote the version above and you are quoting the book as it first appeared.

Last verified 2 Aug 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved” Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, 1st edition (London: John Murray, 1859), the closing sentence of chapter XIV. Later editions read "breathed by the Creator into a few forms".

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Evoking the world of Charles Darwin — English naturalist and geologist. Theme: "There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

The last sentence of the book

Work
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
Edition quoted
First edition, London: John Murray, published 24 November 1859
Location
Chapter XIV, ‘Recapitulation and Conclusion’ — the closing sentence
Later editions differ
‘breathed by the Creator’ from the 2nd (1860); ‘circling on’ by the 6th (1872)

Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. On the Origin of Species, 1st ed. (1859), closing lines of chapter XIV

The sentence before it is the one that earns the ending. Darwin has just summarised his mechanism as war, famine and death — and then argues that the most exalted thing we can conceive of follows directly from exactly that. The grandeur is not offered in spite of the brutality of the process; it is claimed because of it. Read the two sentences together and the famous one stops being a decorative flourish.

On the Origin of Species, first edition (1859) — full text

How we verified this

  • We read the book, not a quotation page. Project Gutenberg carries the 1859 first edition in full, and the sentence stands exactly where it should — at the very end of chapter XIV, ‘Recapitulation and Conclusion’, with nothing after it but the index the first edition, full text ↗.
  • Then we checked the wording against the other editions, because this particular sentence is famous for changing. In the second edition of 1860 the same passage reads ‘having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one’ — three words that are simply not in the 1859 text the 1860 second edition ↗.
  • By the sixth edition of 1872 a second change had appeared: ‘whilst this planet has gone circling on’, where the first and second editions both read ‘cycling on’. The sixth also drops the comma in ‘are being, evolved’ the 1872 sixth edition ↗.
  • So we compared the quoted wording against all three texts directly. It matches the 1859 first edition character for character, and matches neither the second nor the sixth — which is what lets this page name an edition rather than just a book. Darwin’s own historical sketch, printed in the sixth edition, supplies the publication dates: the first edition on 24 November 1859, the second on 7 January 1860 the dates, in Darwin’s own sketch ↗.
Public domain

On the Origin of Species was published in 1859 and Darwin died in 1882, so both the text and the author’s rights are long expired. It is in the public domain in the United States and effectively everywhere else, and Project Gutenberg distributes the first, second and sixth editions in full on that basis. No translation is involved — Darwin wrote in English, and this is his own wording.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Context

Why it mattered

Darwin had spent a whole book arguing that species are not fixed, that the mechanism is competition, and that the process needs no designer. He ends the book by refusing to treat that as a loss. The last sentence is a claim about how the theory should feel: that a world of endless forms produced by simple laws is more magnificent, not less, than one assembled by hand.

It is also the most carefully weighted sentence he ever wrote, which is why the edits to it are so revealing. Adding ‘by the Creator’ in January 1860 — weeks after publication, into the book’s single most conspicuous line — is not a copy-edit. And Darwin came to regret the concession: writing to the botanist J.D. Hooker in March 1863 he said ‘I have long regretted that I truckled to public opinion, and used the Pentateuchal term of creation… by which I really meant “appeared” by some wholly unknown process’. Francis Darwin’s note on that letter ties the remark to the Origin’s language of the primordial form ‘into which life was first breathed’ the letter to Hooker, 29 March 1863 ↗. If you want one sentence that shows a scientist negotiating with his own century, this is it.

From war, famine and death, he wrote, the most exalted object we can conceive of directly follows.

The three versions, side by side

1859, first edition: ‘…having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on… have been, and are being, evolved.’

1860, second edition: ‘…having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on… have been, and are being, evolved.’

1872, sixth edition: ‘…having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone circling on… have been, and are being evolved.’

If a quotation of this sentence includes ‘by the Creator’, it is not the first edition — it is 1860 or later. Both are genuinely Darwin; they are simply different moments in his thinking, and it is worth knowing which one is being quoted at you.

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Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

On the Origin of Species, 1st edition (1859)gutenberg.org

The first edition, complete. The sentence quoted here is the last line of chapter XIV, immediately before the index.
First edition — full plain textgutenberg.org

The searchable text we compared against, character for character, to establish that this wording is the 1859 edition.
On the Origin of Species, 2nd edition (1860)gutenberg.org

The edition that first inserted 'by the Creator' into this sentence, while still reading 'cycling on'.
On the Origin of Species, 6th edition (1872)gutenberg.org

The final edition Darwin revised: 'by the Creator' retained, 'cycling' now 'circling'. Its historical sketch also dates the first two editions.
Wikiquote — Charles Darwinen.wikiquote.org

Carries this sentence at the head of its Darwin page, in the first-edition wording — an independent check on which version circulates.
On the Origin of Species — the booken.wikipedia.org

Publication history and the six editions, useful background on why the text of this sentence moved between them.

The author

About Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin

1809–1882 · English naturalist and geologist

Charles Robert Darwin sailed on HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836 and spent the next two decades assembling the argument the voyage had suggested to him. On the Origin of Species appeared on 24 November 1859 and he revised it through six editions to 1872, altering this closing sentence twice along the way. He is one of the very few writers whose most quoted line is also the last line of his most important book.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

The primary source (Chicago)

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. 1st ed. London: John Murray, 1859. Closing sentence of chapter XIV, “Recapitulation and Conclusion.”

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved’?” Last verified 2 Aug 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/there-is-grandeur-in-this-view-of-life-with-its-several/

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