“ The absurdity of such a claim is apparent when we remember that anyone can prove the law of gravitation by throwing a weight into the air, and that anyone can prove the roundness of the earth by going around it, while no one can prove evolution to be true in any way whatever.
Chemistry is an insurmountable obstacle in the path of evolution. It is one of the greatest of the sciences; it separates the atoms—isolates them and walks about them, so to speak. If there were in nature a progressive force, an eternal urge, chemistry would find it. ”

“ It is impossible, if you leave freedom in the world, to mold the opinions of one man upon the opinions of another—only tyranny can do it—and your constitutional provision, providing a freedom of religion, was meant to meet that emergency. I will go further—there is nothing else—since man—I don't know whether I dare say evolved—still, this isn't a school—since man was created out of the dust of the earth—out of hand—there is nothing else your Honor that has caused the difference of opinion, of bitterness, of hatred, of war, of cruelty, that religion has caused. ”

“ God may be a matter of indifference to the evolutionists and a life beyond may have no charm for them, but the mass of mankind will continue to worship their Creator and continue to find comfort in the promise of their Savior that He has gone to prepare a place for them. Christ has made of death a narrow, star-lit strip between the companionship of yesterday and the reunion of tomorrow; evolution strikes out the stars and deepens the gloom that enshrouds the tomb. ”

“ If man has evolved from other forms of animal life by the continuous process of evolution it is asked how can there be any difference between him and them, how can we believe that he has an immortal soul. Again, the appeal to facts makes it clear that somehow out of the continuity of process real differences have emerged. When the cow pauses on the hillside to admire the view, when the dog ceases to bay at the moon in order to construct a system of astronomy then and not till then will we believe that there are no differences between man and other animals. ”

“ We will say I am a scientist, no, I will take that back, I am a pseudo-scientist, because I believe in evolution, pseudo-scientist named by somebody, who neither knows or cares what science is, except to grab it by the throat and throttle it to death. I am a pseudo-scientist, and I believe in evolution. Can a legislative body say, "You cannot read a book or take a lesson, or make a talk on science until you first find out whether you are saying against Genesis. It can unless that constitutional provision protects me. ”

“ The truth does not need the forces of government. The truth does not need Mr. Bryan. The truth is imperishable, eternal and immortal and needs no human agency to support it. We are ready to tell the truth as we understand it and we do not fear all the truth that they can present as facts. We are ready. We are ready. We feel we stand with progress. We feel we stand with science. We feel we stand with intelligence. ”

“ It cannot stand a minute in this court on any theory than that it is a criminal act, simply because they say it contravenes the teaching of Moses without telling us what those teachings are. Now, if this is the subject of a criminal act, then it cannot make a criminal out of a teacher in the public schools and leave a man free to teach it in a private school. It cannot make it criminal for a teacher in the public schools to teach evolution, and for the same man to stand among the huskies and teach it. ”

“ To say that one must choose between evolution and Christianity is exactly like telling the child as he starts for school that he must choose between spelling and artithmetic. Thorough knowledge of each is essential to success—both individual and racial—in life. ”

“ When there is poison in the blood, no one knows on what part of the body it will break out, but we can be sure that it will continue to break by science. Evolution is at war with religion because religion is supernatural; it is, therefore, the relentless foe of Christianity, which is a revealed religion.
Let us, then, hear the conclusion of the whole matter, Science is a magnificent material force, but it is not a teacher of morals. It can perfect machinery, but it adds no moral restraints to protect society from the misuse of the machine. ”

“ Who is able to set a price upon the life of a child—a child into whom a mother has poured her life and for whom a father has labored? What may a noble life mean to the child itself, to the parents, and to the world?
And it must be remembered that we can measure the effect on only that part of life which is spent on earth; we lave no way of calculating the effect on that infinite circle of life of which existence here is but a small arc. The soul is immortal and religion deals with the soul; the logical effect of the evolutionary hypothesis is to undermine religion and thus affect the soul. ”

“ Tell me that the parents of this day have not any right to declare that children are not to be taught this doctrine? Shall not be taken down from the high plane upon which God put man? Shall be detached from the throne of God and be compelled to link their ancestors with the jungle, tell that to these children? Why, my friend, if they believe it, they go back to scoff at the religion of their parents! And the parents have a right to say that no teacher paid by their money shall rob their children of faith in God and send them back to their homes, skeptical, infidels, or agnostics, or atheists. ”

“ I will instruct the jury that this attorney, gentlemen, is merely making a statement that is not proof in the case. He is merely outlining what he hopes to prove, what his theory is. While it is your duty to hear the statement, but keep in mind that it is not evidence, and that you are not to consider this statement in determining the issues, but the purpose of the statement is to get before your minds in the beginning what they hope or propose to prove. Now, the court may later allow them to prove these theories, or the court may not allow them to be proven. ”

“ Jefferson paid a tribute to the power of truth when he said that truth was able to overcome error in the open field; and that it was this sublime confidence in the triumph of truth that, distinguished him from many of the other great men of his time. In fact, of all the men who have lived upon this earth, I know of no man who surpassed Jefferson in his confidence in the ultimate triumph of truth; and upon what can people build if not upon faith in truth? ”

“ The spirit of peace has fled the earth because evolution has taken possession of it. The plea for peace in past years has been inspired by faith in the divine nature and the divine origin of man; men were then looked upon as children of one Father, and war, therefore, was fratricide. But now that men are looked upon as children of apes, what matters it whether they are slaughtered or not? ”

“ Evolution Casts Doubt Upon Creation Itself.
But it is not a laughing matter when one considers that evolution not only offers no suggestions as to a Creator but tends to put the creative act so far away as to cast doubt upon creation itself. And while it is shaking faith in God as a beginning, it is also creating doubt as to a heaven at the end of life. Evolutionists do not feel that it is incumbent upon them to show how life began or at what point in their long-drawn-out scheme of changing species man became endowed with hope and promise of immortal life. ”

“ The question is can a minority in this state come in and compel a teacher to teach that the Bible is not true and make the parents of these children pay the expenses of the teacher to tell their children what these people believe is false and dangerous? Has it come to a time when the minority can take charge of a state like Tennessee and compel the majority to pay their teachers while they take religion out of the heart of the children of the parents who pay the teachers? This is the book that is outlawed if we can judge from the questions asked by the counsel for the defense. ”

“ The jury should not be influenced by the opinion of anyone who is not any more competent to form one than they themselves are. The verdict should express the jurors' own independent conclusions from the facts and circumstances in evidence, and not be the echo of witnesses, perhaps not unbiased."
Of course, if the court please, I do not mean to argue that there are not cases where it is absolutely necessary to have opinions of experts, where the matters in issue are of such a technical or involved nature that expert opinion is the only way by which the truth as to facts may be arrived at. ”

“ Withdraw this theory, and every department of physical research would fall back into heaps of hopelessly dislocated facts, with no more order or reason or philosophical coherence than exists in a basket of marbles, or in the juxtaposition of the multitudinous sands of the seashore. We should go back into chaos if we took out of the laboratories, out of the dissecting rooms, out of the field of investigation, this great doctrine of evolution. ”

“ We pray, our Father, to bless the proceedings of this court, bless the court, the judge, as he presides, and may there be in every heart and in every mind a reverence to the Great Creator of the world.
We ask Thee, our Father, to help us, every one to find our place in our relation to every other man, so that we can best serve, can best know human interests and can best sympathize with the needs of every heart. ”

“ The term evolution, as today used in science, means the historical process of change. When we speak of the evolution of man-made products, like automobiles and steam engines, of social institutions like democratic government, of the crust of the earth, or solar system, of animals and plants, we mean a gradual coming into existence of what is now before us, in contrast to its sudden and miraculous creation. ”

“ Men of science have as their aim the discovery of facts. They seek with pen eyes, willing to recognize it, as Huxley said, even if "it sears the eyeballs." After they have discovered truth, and not till then, do they consider what its moral imyplications may be. Thus far, and presumably always, truth when found is also found to be right, in the moral sense of the word. Men of religion seek righteousness; finding it they also find truth. The farther along the two avenues of investigation the scientists and the theologian go, the closer together they discover themselves to be. ”

“ Science should continue to progress and it should be unhampered in the bounds of reason, and I am proud of the progress that it has made, and I should say, your honor, that when science treads upon holy ground, when science should invade no further, Almighty God, in His conception of things here, did not intend that there should be a clash upon this earth between any of the forces here, except—save and except the forces of good and evil, and I am sorry that there has come a clash between scientific investigation and God's word. ”

“ The Court—My fellow citizens, I recently read somewhere what think was a definition of a great man, and that was this: That he possesses a passion to know the truth and have the courage to declare it in the face of all opposition. It is easy enough, my friends, to have a passion to find a truth, or to find a fact, rather, that coincides with our preconceived notions and ideas, but it sometimes takes courage to search diligently for a truth, that may destroy our preconceived notions and ideas.
The man that only has a passion to find the truth is not a complete and great man ”

“ Hays—I like the term judicial cognizance better than the term judicial notice, because the court even takes judicial cognizance of facts of which it has no actual judicial knowledge at all. If the court takes judicial cognizance of matters, since the court is merely human and the bounds of knowledge are limited somewhat, the court must take testimony and evidence on facts which are not matters of common knowledge in order to inform itself, because there is nothing more important than that the court should not fall into error on questions of fact as well as of law. ”

“ For a teacher to fail to bear testimony is as essentially sinful as for a man to fail to stand by his religion. Truth is one, whether scientific truth or religious truth, and it calls for loyalty from every worthy man. The fact of evolution—of man, of all living things, of the earth, of the sun, of the stars—is as fully established as the fact that the earth revolves around the sun. Change, growth evolution, is a fundamental, a pivotal truth in all nature. ”

“ Anthropologists accept evolution as the most satisfactory explanation of the observed facts relating to the universe, to our world and all life on it. They hold that evidence abundantly justifies us in believing that development has been from the simple to the complex and that present forms of life, including man, have been produced from earlier existing forms, but through immense periods of time.
The field of the anthropologist is man, man's body, and man's society, and in this study he finds himself working side by side with the biologist and the geologist. ”

“ John Marshall, the man that ruled and reigned, that presided over the supreme court of the United States for thirty-four long years, and one of the most noted lawyers and judges that ever lived in America, made his fame and laid the foundation for his fame by writing the opinion involving the office of justice of the peace.
Now, my friends, the people in America are great people. We are great in the south, and they are great in the north. We are great because we are willing to lay down our differences when we fight the battle out and be friends. ”

“ If they want to educate the people of Tennessee as they say they do, but this a court of law, if is not a court of instruction for the mass of humanity at large. They, themselves, admit that it is their purpose, your honor, to enlighten the people of Tennessee. Now, your honor, how can these experts qualify as jurors? I would like to be given the right to challenge these men, to pass upon them before they come into this court and give their opinions upon the facts which are in issue; the very province of the jury is invaded by the gentlemen we do not have the right to pass upon. ”

“ It could—except for the work of Thomas Jefferson, which has been woven into every state constitution of the Union, and has stayed there like the flaming sword to protect the rights of man against ignorance and bigotry, and when it is permitted to overwhelm them, then we are taken in a sea of blood and ruin that all the miseries and tortures and carion of the middle ages would be as nothing. ”

“ The different layers of rock which form the surface of the earth unfold a remarkable story of evolution. These rock layers may be read as clearly as the leaves of a book, and they are the book which tells the true history of the earth; and the buried remains of animal and plant life which they contain likewise show the rise of life and its development on this earth. All forms of life have changed and developed to meet the conditions which have existed on the earth, as it has developed to meet the conditions which have been developing from the beginning of geological time. ”

“ Your honor knows that everything the court says not only goes out to the world through the newspapers, but through the radio and it is difficult for a court these days to exclude a jury from what is going on in the courtroom, because it would be difficult for a juror to go anywhere in the utmost privacy and not hear what's going on, so the rules would have to be changed to meet the advance of science. If the defense is representing anything it is merely representing the attempt to meet the campaign of propaganda which has been begun by a distinguished member of the prosecution. ”

“ As one fact, such as the absence of the accused from the scene of the murder, outweighs all the resemblances that a thousand witnesses could swear to, so the inability of science to trace any one of the millions of species to another species, outweighs all the resemblances upon which evolutionists rely to establish man’s blood relationship with the brutes.
Man's Urge Comes Not From Within, But From Above.
But while the wisest scientists cannot prove a pushing power, such as evolution is supposed to be, there is a lifting power that any child can understand. ”

“ Darrow—We expect to show by men of science and learning—both scientists and real scholars of the Bible—men who know what they are talking about—who have made some investigation—expect to show first what evolution is, and, secondly, that any interpretation of the Bible that intelligent men could possibly make is not in conflict with any story of creation, while the Bible, in many ways, is in conflict with every known science, and there isn't a human being on earth believes it literally. We expect to show that it isn't in conflict with the theory of evolution. ”

“ Are we to have our children know nothing about science except what the church says they shall know? I have never seen harm in learning and understanding, in humility and open-mindedness, and I have never seen clearer the need of that learning than when I see the attitude of the prosecution, who attack and refuse to accept the information and intelligence, which expert witnesses will give them. ”

“ It is against the law of Tennessee, but does the opposition mean by duel that our defendant shall be strapped to a board and that they alone shall carry the sword, is our only weapon the witnesses who shall testify to the accuracy of our theory—is our weapon to be taken from us, so that the duel will be entirely one-sided? That isn't my idea of a duel. Moreover it isn't going to be a duel.
Truth Is Imperishable and Eternal.
There is never a duel with the truth. The truth always wins and we are not afraid of it. The truth is no coward. The truth does not need the law. ”