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A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.

Charles Darwin, correspondence, 1836

Philosophy

The story behind the card

Darwin wrote this in a letter to his sister Susan on 4 August 1836, aged 27, as HMS Beagle's five-year survey voyage around the world was nearing its end. The letter was later published in The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887). For most of his later life a long illness, never firmly diagnosed, limited him to a few hours of work a day. He kept to a strict daily routine, and those hours produced On the Origin of Species (1859) and many other books.

Türkçe oku
Tek bir saatini bile boşa harcamaya cüret eden insan, hayatın değerini keşfetmemiştir.
Charles Darwin, mektup, 1836

Darwin bu satırları 4 Ağustos 1836'da, 27 yaşındayken kız kardeşi Susan'a yazdığı bir mektupta kaleme aldı. HMS Beagle gemisinin dünyayı dolaşan beş yıllık araştırma yolculuğu o sırada sona yaklaşıyordu. Mektup sonradan The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887) adlı derlemede yayımlandı. Darwin ömrünün büyük bölümünde, kesin tanısı hiçbir zaman konamamış uzun bir hastalık yüzünden günde ancak birkaç saat çalışabildi. Sıkı bir günlük düzene bağlı kaldı; o birkaç saatten Türlerin Kökeni (1859) ve daha pek çok kitap çıktı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Charles Darwin
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