Charles Darwin
<p>Feb 18, 2009 6:17 PM
 
“I think it would be a most extraordinary fact if no variation
ever had occurred useful to each being's own welfare ... .
<b>
“But if variations useful to any organic being do occur,
assuredly individuals thus characterised will have the best
chance of being preserved in the struggle for life</b>; and from
the strong principle of inheritance they will tend to produce
offspring similarly characterised.
“This principle of preservation, I have called, for the sake of
brevity, Natural Selection.”
— Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of
Natural Selection (1859)</p>