Charles Lyell

Wilhelm Humboldt man speech invent

"It was a profound saying of Wilhelm Humboldt, that 'Man is man only by means of speech, but in order to invent speech he must be already man.'"

— Charles Lyell (1797-1875)

dogma indolence blunt curiosity discordance former cause change

"Never was there a dogma more calculated to foster indolence, and to blunt the keen edge of curiosity, than the assumption of the discordance between the former and the existing causes of change."

— Charles Lyell (1797-1875)

improbable geologist earthquake mountain apple motion moon

"It must have appeared almost as improbable to the earlier geologists, that the laws of earthquakes should one day throw light on the origin of mountains, as it must to the first astronomers, that the fall of an apple should assist in explaining the motions of the moon."

— Charles Lyell (1797-1875)

monument skill industry man ocean surface

"It is probable that a greater number of monuments of the skill and industry of man will, in the course of the ages, be collected together in the bed of the ocean than will exist at any other time on the surface of the continents."

— Charles Lyell (1797-1875)

accountant credit profession debit

"Never call an accountant a credit to his profession; a good accountant is a debit to his profession."

— Charles Lyell (1797-1875)

present key past

“The present is the key to the past”

— Charles Lyell (1797-1875)

vicissitude eath surface species immortal perish individual

“Amidst the vicissitudes of the earth's surface, species cannot be immortal, but must perish, one after another, like the individuals which compose them. There is no possibility of escaping from this conclusion.”

— Charles Lyell (1797-1875)