Skip to content
Shawords

Quote#Wisdom

To me it is quite credible that the Martians may be descended from…

Quote byH. G. Wells · 1866–1946

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The War of the Worlds (1898), Book II, Ch. 2 (Ch. 19 in editions without Book division): What We Saw from the Ruined House.

English (original)

To me it is quite credible that the Martians may be descended from beings not unlike ourselves, by a gradual development of brain and hands (the latter giving rise to the two bunches of delicate tentacles at last) at the expense of the rest of the body. Without the body the brain would, of course, become a mere selfish intelligence, without any of the emotional substratum of the human being.

— H. G. Wells

More from H. G. Wells