Did Herbert Spencer actually say "Survival of the fittest (Darwin's phrase)."?

No. The real line is "The phrase is Herbert Spencer's (1864), later adopted by Darwin." — from Herbert Spencer, Principles of Biology (1864).

Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Book ·254 of 348

"Survival of the fittest (Darwin's phrase)."

They never said that.

What people say

"Survival of the fittest (Darwin's phrase)."

What was actually said

"The phrase is Herbert Spencer's (1864), later adopted by Darwin." Herbert Spencer — Herbert Spencer, Principles of Biology (1864)

Darwin preferred "natural selection." He added Spencer's phrase to the fifth edition of Origin (1869) as a synonym — but it wasn't his coinage.

Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.