Owen was not an attractive person, in appearanceor in temperament. A photograph from his latemiddle years shows him as gaunt and sinister, likethe villain in a Victorian melodrama, with long,lank hair and bulging eyes—a face to frightenbabies. In manner he was cold and imperious, andhe was without scruple in the furtherance of hisambitions. He was the only person Charles Darwinwas ever known to hate. Even Owen's son (who soonafter killed himself) referred to his father's"lamentable coldness of heart."

欧文并不是个很有魅力的人，无论在外表上还是脾性上。在一张中年的照片上，他看上去又瘦削又阴险，长着又长又直的头发，眼睛向外鼓出，活像维多利亚时代情节剧里的坏蛋——有一张可以用来吓唬小孩子的脸。在举止方面，他又冷漠又傲慢，无所顾忌地实现他的雄心壮志。据知，查尔斯·达尔文惟一讨厌的人就是他。连欧文的儿子(他没过多久就自杀了)也提到他父亲的“可悲的冷酷之心”。

His undoubted gifts as an anatomist allowed him to get away with the most barefaceddishonesties. In 1857, the naturalist T. H. Huxley was leafing through a new edition ofChurchill's Medical Directory when he noticed that Owen was listed as Professor of ComparativeAnatomy and Physiology at the Government School of Mines, which rather surprised Huxley asthat was the position he held. Upon inquiring how Churchill's had made such an elementalerror, he was told that the information had been provided to them by Dr. Owen himself.

作为解剖学家，他的才华是毋庸置疑的，因此他能做出最不要脸的坏事而又不受人指责。1857年，博物学家T.H.赫胥黎在翻阅一本新版的《丘吉尔医学指南》时，突然注意到欧文被列为政府采矿学院的比较解剖学和生理学教授，他感到相当吃惊，因为这正是达尔文现在拥有的职位。当他询问这本指南怎么会犯这么低级的错误时，他被告知那个信息是欧文博士本人提供的。

A fellow naturalist named Hugh Falconer, meanwhile, caught Owen taking credit for one of hisdiscoveries. Others accused him of borrowing specimens, then denying he had done so. Oweneven fell into a bitter dispute with the Queen's dentist over the credit for a theory concerningthe physiology of teeth.

同时，有一位跟欧文一起工作的、名叫休·福尔克纳的博物学家当场揭穿欧文把他的一项发现归功于自己。别人还指责他盗用标本，后来又否认他这么干过。欧文甚至为了一个有关牙齿生理学理论的功劳与女王的牙科医生发生激烈的争吵。