“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” The line is often attributed to Charles Darwin. Darwin did not write it. The Darwin Correspondence Project traces it to an American business professor.
The professor was Leon C. Megginson, at Louisiana State University. In a speech to the Southwestern Social Science Association in San Antonio on April 12, 1963, he summarized Darwin in his own words: “the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment.” Later writers shortened his words and gave them to Darwin.