Quotessence
Home / Authors / Lewis Thomas
Lewis Thomas

Lewis Thomas Quotes

Physician

Filter quotes by topic

AllScienceHumansIfsEarthMindThinkingWayCellsKnowsStillsSeemsSpeciesCenturyGenesNeedsTryingBrainCreaturesHuman BeingsLanguage

Famous Lewis Thomas Quotes

“The need to make music, and to listen to it, is universally expressed by human beings. I cannot imagine, even in our most primitive times, the emergence of talented painters to make cave paintings without there having been, near at hand, equally creative people making song. It is, like speech, a dominant aspect of human biology.”

PeopleNeedsHumansHandsSongHuman BeingsCreativeImaginePaintingSpeechAspectPainterBiologyPrimitiveDominantCavesCreative PeopleEmergenceCave Paintings
Book:A Long Line of Cells Collected Essays
Create image

“The greatest achievements in the science of this [twentieth] century are themselves the sources of more puzzlement than human beings have ever experienced. Indeed, it is likely that the twentieth century will be looked back at as the time when science provided the first close glimpse of the profundity of human ignorance. We have not reached solutions; we have only begun to discover how to ask questions.”

FirstsHumansScienceAsksHuman BeingsCenturyIgnoranceSourceAchievementSolutionsAccountsIgnorantGlimpseTwentieth CenturyProfundityGreatest Achievement
Author:Lewis Thomas
Create image

“We pass the word around; we ponder how the case is put by different people, we read the poetry; we meditate over the literature; we play the music; we change our minds; we reach an understanding. Society evolves this way, not by shouting each other down, but by the unique capacity of unique, individual human beings to comprehend each other.”

PeopleWayMindHumansDifferentPlayLiteratureIndividualUnderstandingChangeHuman BeingsMusicCasesUniqueCapacityIndividualityEvolveDifferent PeoplesPonderingShoutingUnique Individuals
Book:A Long Line of Cells Collected Essays
Create image