Darwin And Modern Science

My success as a man of science, whatever this may have amounted to, has been determined, as far as I can judge, by complex and diversified mental qualities and conditions. Of these, the most important have been the love of science unbounded patience in long reflecting over any subject industry in observing and collecting factsand a fair share of invention as well as of common sense. With such moderate abilities as I possess, it is truly surprising that I should have influenced to a considerable extent the belief of scientific men on some important points.

Autobiography (1881); The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. 1. page 107.