“In a Society in which there is no law, and in theory no compulsion, the only arbiter of behaviour is public opinion. But public opinion, because of the tremendous urge to conformity in gregarious animals, is less tolerant than any system of law. When human beings are governed by "thou shalt not", the individual can practise a certain amount of eccentricity: when they are supposedly governed by "love" or "reason", he is under continuous pressure to make him behave and think in exactly the same way as everyone else.” ThinkingWayHumansReasonLawCertainIndividualHuman BeingsAnimalOpinionTheoryAmountPressureBehaveUrgesConformityBehaviourPublic OpinionCompulsionPractiseEccentricityArbiterGregarious Book:All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays Source: All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays
“Sentimentalising is anathema, as far as I am concerned. It leads you into ethical problems about violence and killing and eating meat. The whole world becomes topsy-survy if you impose moralities that were evolved within human society on what a blowfly or what a parasite does... there are lots of emotions you can deduce from an animal's behaviour that are correct, but when you start saying it's feeling guilty or thinking or a loved one or mourning, you must be very careful of those feelings.” IfsThinkingWorldHumansDoeWholeFeelingsProblemAnimalEmotionViolenceTelevisionMoralityEatingConcernedKillingCarefulWhole WorldGuiltyMeatMourningEthicalLoved OnesBehaviourHuman SocietyParasitesEating MeatFeeling GuiltyAnathema Author:David Attenborough
“There are many other (besides testosterone) behaviour-eliciting hormones fundamental for humen well-being, including estrogen and progesterone in females. The fact that complex behavioural patterns can be triggered by a tiny concentration of moleculas coursing through the bloodstream, and that different animals of the same species generate different amounts of these hormones, is something worth thinking about when it's time to judge such matters as free will, individual responsibility, and law and order.” ThinkingWellsDifferentMatterFactsLawOrderIndividualAnimalResponsibilityJudgingEvolutionAmountFemaleFundamentalsSpeciesComplexesIncludingPatternsTinyWell BeingConcentrationFree WillBehaviourHormonesLaw And OrderTestosteroneIndividual ResponsibilityEstrogenDifferent Animals Author:Carl Sagan
“The usual sniggering examples of animal behaviour were brought in to explain cheating. Funny how the behaviour of shrews and gibbons is never used to explain table manners or road safety or gardening, only sex. Anyway, it was bad Darwinism. Taking the example of a monkey and applying it to yourself misses the point that animal behaviour is made for the benefit of the species, not as an excuse for the individual. Being incapable of sustaining a stable pair and supporting children is really not in the interests of our species. Neither is it really in the best interests of the philanderer.” ChildrenMadeUsedIndividualSexInterestAnimalMissingExampleEvolutionBenefitsSafetyTablesSpeciesExcuseMannersCheatingPairsUsualGardeningStableBehaviourIncapableMonkeysSustainingDarwinismTable MannersShrewsPhilanderer Author:A. A. Gill
“A humanist is anyone who rejects the attempt to describe or account for man wholly on the basis of physics, chemistry or animal behaviour.” MenHumanityAnimalAccountsBasesPhysicsRejectsHumanistChemistryBehaviour Author:Joseph Wood Krutch
“Zoologists have reckoned there are up to at least 750 species of animal that have been observed exhibiting same-sex behaviour, or gender role transformation (which is very common in a wide range of fauna). There is only one species on earth, however, which has exhibited homophobia or transphobia. And that is the species homo sapiens sapiens. Us. So let's not allow the foolish, ignorant or bigoted ever to use words like "natural."” Has BeensUseEarthSexNaturalAnimalCommonRolesTransformationSpeciesGenderWideFoolishIgnorantRangeBehaviourHomo SapiensHomophobiaGender RolesZoologist Author:Stephen Fry
“The comic strip is what I looked at, and it's another reason I did it. The comic strip, where animals would comment on human behaviour, interested me.” HumansReasonAnimalComicCommentBehaviourComic StripsHuman Behaviour Author:Garry Shandling