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Evolution Quotes

Browse 3937 quotes about Evolution.

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Evolution Quotes

“So says the most ancient book of the Earth; thus it is written on its leaves of marble, lime, sand, slate, and clay: ... that our Earth has fashioned itself, from its chaos of substances and powers, through the animating warmth of the creative spirit, to a peculiar and original whole, by a series of preparatory revolutions, till at last the crown of its creation, the exquisite and tender creature man, was enabled to appear.”

MenBookWholeEarthLastsScienceSpiritCreativeWrittenCreationRevolutionEvolutionCreaturesOriginalsSeriesChaosAncientSubstanceSandWarmthPeculiarCrownsClayExquisiteMarbleGeologySlateLimesCreative Spirit
Book:Outlines of a Philosophy of the History of Man
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“The chemical differences among various species and genera of animals and plants are certainly as significant for the history of their origins as the differences in form. If we could define clearly the differences in molecular constitution and functions of different kinds of organisms, there would be possible a more illuminating and deeper understanding of question of the evolutionary reactions of organisms than could ever be expected from morphological considerations.”

IfsKindDifferentWould BeFormScienceUnderstandingDifferencesAnimalHistoryEvolutionFunctionConstitutionPlantSpeciesVariousDeeperExpectedSignificantReactionsConsiderationChemicalsDifferent KindsOrganismsIlluminatingDeeper Understanding
Author:Ray Lankester
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“The distinguishing of the strata, or layers, in the embryonic membrane was a turning-point in the study of the history of evolution, and placed later researches in their proper light. A division of the (disc-shaped) embryo into an animal and a plastic part first takes place. In the lower part (the plastic or vegetative layer) are a serous and a vascular layer, each of peculiar organization. In the upper part also (the animal or serous germ-layer) two layers are clearly distinguishable, a flesh-layer and a skin-layer. (1828)”

FirstsTwoLightAnimalStudyEvolutionResearchSkinsOrganizationFleshDivisionPeculiarLayersPlasticGermsTurning PointsEmbryosDiscsMembranes
Author:Karl Ernst von Baer
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“The doctrine of evolution implies the passage from the most organised to the least organised, or, in other terms, from the most general to the most special. Roughly, we say that there is a gradual 'adding on' of the more and more special, a continual adding on of new organisations. But this 'adding on' is at the same time a 'keeping down'. The higher nervous arrangements evolved out of the lower keep down those lower, just as a government evolved out of a nation controls as well as directs that nation.”

WellsGovernmentScienceNationsTermSpecialEvolutionHigherDoctrineNervousPassagesArrangementsOrganisationOrganised
Book:Selected Writings of John Hughlings Jackson: Evaluation and dissolution of the nervous system. Speech. Various papers, addresses and lectures
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“The great age of the earth will appear greater to man when he understands the origin of living organisms and the reasons for the gradual development and improvement of their organization. This antiquity will appear even greater when he realizes the length of time and the particular conditions which were necessary to bring all the living species into existence. This is particularly true since man is the latest result and present climax of this development, the ultimate limit of which, if it is ever reached, cannot be known.”

IfsMenReasonAgeEarthScienceRealizingResultsExistenceKnownGreaterConditionsParticularDevelopmentEvolutionLimitsUltimateOrganizationSpeciesImprovementLengthOrganismsAntiquityClimaxLiving Organisms
Author:Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
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“The History of Evolution is the real source of light in the investigation of organic bodies. It is applicable at every step, and all our ideas of the correlation of organic bodies will be swayed by our knowledge of the history of evolution. To carry the proof of it into all branches of research would be an almost endless task. (1828)”

IdeasRealBodyLightWould BeScienceStepsSourceEvolutionResearchTasksProofEndlessBranchesInvestigationEvery StepCorrelation
Author:Karl Ernst von Baer
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“The meaning that we are seeking in evolution is its meaning to us, to man. The ethics of evolution must be human ethics. It is one of the many unique qualities of man, the new sort of animal, that he is the only ethical animal. The ethical need and its fulfillment are also products of evolution, but they have been produced in man alone.”

MenNeedsHumansHas BeensScienceAnimalQualityHe ManProductsEvolutionUniqueEthicsSeekingFulfillmentEthical
Book:The Meaning of Evolution
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“The scientific doctrine of progress is destined to replace not only the myth of progress, but all other myths of human earthly destiny. It will inevitably become one of the cornerstones of man's theology, or whatever may be the future substitute for theology, and the most important external support for human ethics.”

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Book:New Bottles for New Wine: Essays
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“The succession of individuals, connected by reproduction and belonging to a species, makes it possible for the specific form itself to last for ages. In the end, however, the species is temporary; it has no "eternal life." After existing for a certain period, it either dies or is converted by modification into other forms.”

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Book:Wonders of life
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“We do not draw conclusions with our eyes, but with our reasoning powers, and if the whole of the rest of living nature proclaims with one accord from all sides the evolution of the world of organisms, we cannot assume that the process stopped short of Man. But it follows also that the factors which brought about the development of Man from his Simian ancestry must be the same as those which have brought about the whole of evolution.”

IfsMenWorldWholeEyeScienceProcessSidesNatureDevelopmentEvolutionDrawsAssumingFactorsConclusionReasoningOrganismsAccordAncestry
Author:August Weismann
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“Workers must root out the idea that by keeping the results of their labors to themselves a fortune will be assured to them. Patent fees are so much wasted money. The flying machine of the future will not be born fully fledged and capable of a flight for 1,000 miles or so. Like everything else it must be evolved gradually. The first difficulty is to get a thing that will fly at all. When this is made, a full description should be published as an aid to others. Excellence of design and workmanship will always defy competition.”

ShouldFirstsMadeIdeasScienceBornResultsDesignEvolutionFutureCapableLaborRootsMachinesDifficultyCompetitionFortuneExcellenceWorkersAidsMilesFlyingFlightDescriptionAssuredFeesPatentsWorkmanshipFlying Machines
Author:Lawrence Hargrave
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“There is little chance that aliens from two societies anywhere in the Galaxy will be culturally close enough to really 'get along.' This is something to ponder as you watch the famous cantina scene in Star Wars. ... Does this make sense, given the overwhelmingly likely situation that galactic civilizations differ in their level of evolutionary development by thousands or millions of years? Would you share drinks with a trilobite, an ourang-outang, or a saber-toothed tiger? Or would you just arrange to have a few specimens stuffed and carted off to the local museum?”

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Author:Seth Shostak
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“In evolution, as in all areas of science, our knowledge is incomplete. But the entire success of the scientific enterprise has depended on an insistence that these gaps be filled by natural explanations, logically derived from confirmable evidence. Because "intelligent design" theories are based on supernatural explanations, they can have nothing to do with science.”

NaturalDesignTheoryEvolutionEvidenceAreasIntelligentFilledExplanationEnterpriseGapsIncompleteInsistenceIntelligent Design
Author:Bruce Alberts
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“(When asked merely if they accept evolution, 45 percent of Americans say yes. The figure is 70 percent in China.) When the movie Jurassic Park was shown in Israel, it was condemned by some Orthodox rabbis because it accepted evolution and because it taught that dinosaurs lived a hundred million years ago-when, as is plainly stated at every Rosh Hashonhan and every Jewish wedding ceremony, the Universe is less than 6,000 years old.”

IfsYearsReligionUniverseAcceptingMillionsFiguresTaughtEvolutionPercentHundredYears AgoAtheistIsraelChinaAcceptedParksOrthodoxCeremonyDinosaursRabbiWedding CeremonyJurassic Park
Book:Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
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“The evolution of culture is ultimately determined by the amount of love, understanding and freedom experienced by its children... Every abandonment, every betrayal, every hateful act towards children returns tenfold a few decades later upon the historical stage, while every empathic act that helps a child become what he or she wants to become, every expression of love toward children heals society and moves it in unexpected, wondrous new directions.”

WantChildrenHelpingMovingCultureUnderstandingJusticeStageExpressionReturnEvolutionAmountDiversitySocial JusticeHistoricalBetrayalDeterminedDecadesHealUnexpectedAbandonmentHatefulWondrousNew DirectionsExpressions Of Love
Author:Lloyd deMause
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“Aging is not 'lost youth,' but a new stage of opportunity and strength. It's a different stage of life, and if you are going to pretend it's youth, you are going to miss it. You are going to miss the surprises, the possibilities, and the evolution that we are just beginning to know about because there are no role models, no guideposts, and no signs.”

IfsKnowsDifferentOpportunityLostRolesStageMissingPossibilityYouthEvolutionModelsAgingSurpriseAssRole ModelsBad AssStages Of LifeLost Youth
Author:Betty Friedan
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“Deep down, all of us are probably aware that some kind of mystical evolution is our true task. Yet we suppress the notion with considerable force because to admit it is to admit that most of our political gyrations, religious dogmas, social ambitions, and financial ploys are not merely counter-productive but trivial.”

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Book:Wild Ducks Flying Backward
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“In the past our glorious visions of the future - heaven, paradise, nirvana - were thought to happen after death. The newer thought is that we do not have to die to get there. We are not speaking here of life after death in some mythical heaven, but life more abundant in real time in history. We are speaking of the next stage of our social evolution.”

RealHappensPastTimeDiesNextHeavenSocialVisionStageEvolutionFutureParadiseGloriousAfter DeathLife After DeathVisions Of The Future
Book:Conscious Evolution: Awakening the Power of Our Social Potential
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“Every step of progress means a duty repudiated, and a scripture torn up.”

MeanStepsProgressDutyEvolutionPositive AtheismScriptureTornEvery Step
Book:The Collected Works of George Bernard Shaw: Plays, Novels, Articles, Lectures, Letters and Essays: Pygmalion, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Candida, Arms and The Man, Man and Superman, Caesar and Cleopatra, Androcles And The Lion, The New York Times Articles on War, Memories of Oscar Wilde and more
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“All progress means war with society.”

MeanWarProgressEvolutionProgress Of Society
Book:The Collected Works of George Bernard Shaw: Plays, Novels, Articles, Lectures, Letters and Essays: Pygmalion, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Candida, Arms and The Man, Man and Superman, Caesar and Cleopatra, Androcles And The Lion, The New York Times Articles on War, Memories of Oscar Wilde and more
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