Charles Darwin, naturalist, “A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life”

Charles Darwin was given the opportunity of a lifetime at the age of 22 to journey around the world on the HMS Beagle as a “gentleman naturalist” companion to Captain Robert FitzRoy. After his uncle helped convince his father to allow him to go, he set sail on December 27, 1831, and would not return until October 2, 1836.

As a guest on the ship, he was free to leave the ship for extended periods of time to explore the foreign lands that the HMS Beagle visited and collect specimens of the extraordinary flora and fauna he encountered. Time which he made very productive use of, collecting thousands of specimens and making detailed observations that filled over a dozen field notebooks over the nearly five year journey.

Those observations forced him to rethink the idea that species are fixed and led to the development of his theory of evolution and natural selection which he published in On the Origin of Species in 1859. The book was an immediate success, stirring extensive debate. Despite pushback from the church, his theory became widely accepted in the following years.

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

Even before he returned to England, he was already a respected scientist thanks to the specimens and his writings that he had sent back during the voyage. Upon reaching the island of Ascension on the return leg of the journey, he received a letter from his sister Susan informing him about comments his mentor Professor Sedgwick had made regarding his collections.

“I confess they are deeply gratifying,” he wrote back to her. “I trust one part at least will turn out true, and that I shall act as I now think—as a man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”

This last section of the letter is often quoted to encourage people to make the most of every moment of their lives, for life is finite. Wasting just small portions of your time on Earth will accumulate into years over the span of time. It has been interpreted as well to emphasize avoiding procrastination, and to be productive with your time and focus on your goals.

However, others have seen this perspective of focusing solely on productivity as too rigid, not making room for simply enjoying life. As another famous quote by Marthe Troly-Curtin in her 1912 novel Phrynette Married states: “Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”

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