evidence: FACT CHECK: Did Charles Darwin Say This Quote About Natural Selection? [...] A 19th century English naturalist, Darwin is best known for his theory of evolution. In his 1859 book "On the Origin of Species," he presented and explained the process of natural selection, whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and reproduce. [...] "I am very familiar with this purported quotation. It is of course not by Darwin," National University of Singapore science historian Dr. John van Wyhe told The Daily Caller in an email. "It is probably a mid-20th century attempt to summarize Darwin’s theory that has been misattributed to Darwin."