"In antiquity the sage kings recognized that men's nature is bad and that their tendencies were not being corrected and their lawlessness controlled."

Next Quote

The great age of the earth will appear greater to man when he understands the origin of living organisms and the reasons for the gradual development and improvement of their organization. This antiquity will appear even greater when he realizes the length of time and the particular conditions which were necessary to bring all the living species into existence. This is particularly true since man is the latest result and present climax of this development, the ultimate limit of which, if it is ever reached, cannot be known.

— Jean-Baptiste Lamarck