“Certainly paleontologists have found samples of an extremely small fraction, only, of the earth's extinct species, and even for groups that are most readily preserved and found as fossils they can never expect to find more than a fraction.” EarthFoundGroupsSpeciesFossilsFractionsSampleNever ExpectPaleontology Author:George Gaylord Simpson
“It is obvious that the great majority of humans throughout history have had grossly, even ridiculously, unrealistic concepts of the world. Man is, among many other things, the mistaken animal, the foolish animal. Other species doubtless have much more limited ideas about the world, but what ideas they do have are much less likely to be wrong and are never foolish. White cats do not denigrate black, and dogs do not ask Baal, Jehovah, or other Semitic gods to perform miracles for them.” MenWorldHumansIdeasAsksBlackWhiteAnimalDogConceptsCatMiracleMajoritySpeciesObviousFoolishMistakenJehovah Author:George Gaylord Simpson
“It remains true, as every paleontologist knows, that most new species, genera, and families, and that nearly all categories above the level of families, appear in the record suddenly and are not led up to by known, gradual completely continuous transitional sequences.” KnowsLevelsKnownRecordsEvolutionRemainsSpeciesCategoriesFossilsSequenceStasis Author:George Gaylord Simpson
“Species evolve exactly as if they were adapting as best they could to a changing world, and not at all as if they were moving toward a set goal.” IfsWorldMovingGoalSpeciesEvolveSetting GoalsAdapting Author:George Gaylord Simpson
“Man is the result of a purposeless and materialistic process that did not have him in mind. He was not planned. He is a state of matter, a form of life, a sort of animal, and a species of the Order Primates, akin nearly or remotely to all of life and indeed to all that is material.” MenMindMatterStatesFormOrderProcessAnimalResultsMaterialsSpeciesMaterialisticPrimates Book:The Meaning of Evolution Source: The Meaning of Evolution
