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Shawords

Quote#Nature

Had the modern professors of eugenics had power in France in 1694,…

Quote byClarence Darrow · 1857–1938

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Voltaire (1916).

English (original)

Had the modern professors of eugenics had power in France in 1694, they probably would not have permitted such a child to have been born. Their scientific knowledge would have shown conclusively that no person of value could have come from the union of his father and mother. In those days, nature had not been instructed by the professors of eugenics and so Voltaire was born.

— Clarence Darrow

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