Species Quotes - Page 2

• An American monkey, after getting drunk on brandy, would never touch it again, and thus is much wiser than most men.

  Charles Darwin

  Men, Drunk, Alcohol

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• Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.

  Charles Darwin

  Inspirational, Confidence, Atheist

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)”, p.6343, Delphi Classics

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• We can allow satellites, planets, suns, universe, nay whole systems of universes, to be governed by laws, but the smallest insect, we wish to be created at once by special act.

  Charles Darwin

  Science, Law, Theory Of Evolution

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Darwin on Evolution: Words of Wisdom from the Father of Evolution”, p.21, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• We are the only species of mammal that doubts our ability to give birth. It's profitable to scare women about birth. But let's stop it. I tell women: Your body is not a lemon.

  Ina May Gaskin

  Inspirational, Women, Giving

  FaceBook post by Ina May Gaskin from Mar 22, 2015

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• When faced with a radical crisis, when the old way of being in the world, of interacting with each other and with the realm of nature doesn't work anymore, when survival is threatened by seemingly insurmountable problems, an individual life-form -- or a species -- will either die or become extinct or rise above the limitations of its condition through an evolutionary leap.

  Eckhart Tolle

  Nature, Survival, World

  Eckhart Tolle (2006). “A New Earth (Oprah #61): Awakening to Your Life's Purpose”, p.30, Penguin

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• Perhaps our greatest distinction as a species is our capacity, unique among animals, to make counter-evolutionary choices.

  Jared Diamond

  Animal, Unique, Choices

  "Why Is Sex Fun? The Evolution of Human Sexuality". Book by Jared Diamond, 1997.

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• Hereafter we shall be compelled to acknowledge that the only distinction between species and well-marked varieties is, that the latter are known, or believed to be connected at the present day by intermediate gradations whereas species were formerly thus connected.

  Charles Darwin

  Science, Belief, Latter

  Charles Darwin (1988). “The Works of Charles Darwin, Volume 16: The Origin of Species, 1876”, p.443, NYU Press

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• Great is the power of steady misrepresentation

  Charles Darwin

  Inspirational, Misrepresentation, Origin Of Species

  1859 The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

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• Every native species, however humble in appearance...has its place in the nation's heritage. It is a masterpiece of evolution, an ancient, multifaceted entity that shares the land with us.

  E. O. Wilson

  Humble, Land, Heritage

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• We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities... still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.

  Charles Darwin

  Inspirational, Nature, Science

  'The Descent of Man' (1871) closing words

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• It's animal by animal that you save a species.

  Diane Ackerman

  Animal, Animal Rights

  Diane Ackerman (2011). “The Rarest of the Rare: Vanishing Animals, Timeless Worlds”, p.19, Vintage

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• I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created parasitic wasps with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars.

  Charles Darwin

  God, Garden, Thinking

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• If the most significant characteristic of man is the complex of biological needs he shares with all members of his species, then the best lives for the writer to observe are those in which the role of natural necessity is clearest, namely, the lives of the very poor.

  W. H. Auden

  Art, Book, Men

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• A lot of people refuse to do things because they don't want to go naked... . We as black people, we as people, we as the human species have got to get used to the fact we're not going to be right most of the time, not even when our intentions are good. We've got to go naked and see what happens.

  Nikki Giovanni

  People, Black, Naked

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• Man is unique in organizing the mass murder of his own species.

  Aldous Huxley

  War, Unique, Men

  Aldous Huxley (1937). “Ends and Means: An Inquiry Into the Nature of Ideals and Into the Methods Employed for Their Realization”, p.100, Transaction Publishers

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• Although we have, in theory, abolished human slavery, recognized women's rights, and stopped child labor, we continue to enslave other species who, if we simply pay attention, show quite clearly that they experience parental love, pain, and the desire for freedom, just as we do.

  Ingrid Newkirk

  Pain, Children, Rights

  "Trayvon Martin Case Reminds Us: Never Be Silent" by Ingrid Newkirk, www.huffingtonpost.com. April 17, 2012.

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• Our downfall as a species is that we are arrogant enough to think that we can control Mother Nature and stupid enough to think it is our job.

  Greg Peterson

  Mother, Nature, Jobs

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• Curiosity and the urge to solve problems are the emotional hallmarks of our species.

  Carl Sagan

  Emotional, Curiosity, Problem

  Carl Sagan (2012). “Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence”, p.81, Ballantine Books

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• You're looking at a species of flimsy little two-legged animals with extremely small heads whose name is Man...Very tiny undeveloped brain; comes from primitive planet named Earth. Calls himself 'Samuel Conrad'. And he will remain here in his cage with the running water and the electricity and the central heat- as long as he lives. Samuel Conrad has found the Twilight Zone.

  Rod Serling

  Running, Twilight, Animal

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• The form most contradictory to human life that can appear among the human species is the "self-satisfied man."

  Jose Ortega y Gasset

  Men, Self, Complacency

  "The Revolt of the Masses". Book by José Ortega y Gasset. Chapter XI: "The Self-Satisfied Age", 1929.

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• In a democracy the majority of citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority...and that oppression of the majority will extend to far great number, and will be carried on with much greater fury, than can almost ever be apprehended from the dominion of a single sceptre. Under a cruel prince they have the plaudits of the people to animate their generous constancy under their sufferings; but those who are subjected to wrong under multitudes are deprived of all external consolation: they seem deserted by mankind, overpowered by a conspiracy of their whole species.

  Edmund Burke

  Exercise, Numbers, People

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• We are the first species to have taken our evolution into our own hands.

  Carl Sagan

  Taken, Hands, Firsts

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science”, p.47, Ballantine Books

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• Accommodation to change, the thoughtful pursuit of alternative futures are keys to the survival of civilization and perhaps of the human species.

  Carl Sagan

  Thoughtful, Keys, Civilization

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science”, p.172, Ballantine Books

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• I find it extraordinary that a straightforward if inelegant device for ensuring the survival of the species should involve human beings in such emotional turmoil. Does sex have to be taken so seriously?

  P. D. James

  Sex, Taken, Emotional

  P. D. James (2011). “Devices and Desires”, p.158, Vintage

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• I should consent to breed under pressure, if I were convinced in any way of the reasonableness of reproducing the species. But my nerves and the nerves of any woman I could live with three months, would produce only a victim... lacking in impulse, a mere bundle of discriminations. If I were wealthy I might subsidize a stud of young peasants, or a tribal group in Tahiti.

  Ezra Pound

  Way, Pressure, Months

  Ezra Pound (1958). “Pavannes and Divagations”, p.55, New Directions Publishing

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