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Evolution Quotes

Browse 3937 quotes about Evolution.

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Evolution Quotes

“Evolution is fundamentally creative, and when we align ourselves with the evolutionary movements of consciousness, the universe itself puts wind in our sails. Quantum thinking goes beyond the thoughts we're aware of; it includes unconscious processing, which doesn't just expand our boundaries, but can also free us from the suffering that conscious processing (sometimes known as 'the monkey mind') creates.”

ThinkingInspirationalMindSometimesSufferingUniverseConsciousnessKnownCreativeMovementWindEvolutionConsciousBoundariesUnconsciousQuantumSailMonkeysProcessingMonkey Mind
Author:Amit Goswami
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“We tried some experiments in mind reading which were not very successful. Think mind reading contrary to common sense, wise provision of the Bon Dieu that we cannot read each others minds, twould stop civilization and everybody would take to the woods. In fifty or hundred thousand centuries when mankind have become perfect by evolution then perhaps this sense could be developed with safety to the state.”

ThinkingMindStatesReadingPerfectCommonSuccessfulWiseMankindCenturyEvolutionCivilizationThousandHundredSafetyWoodsContraryExperimentsCommon SenseFiftyProvisionMind Reading
Author:Thomas A. Edison
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“Iconography becomes even more revealing when processes or concepts, rather than objects, must be depicted for the constraint of a definite "thing" cedes directly to the imagination. How can we draw "evolution" or "social organization," not to mention the more mundane "digestion" or "self-interest," without portraying more of a mental structure than a physical reality? If we wish to trace the history of ideas, iconography becomes a candid camera trained upon the scholar's mind.”

IfsMindIdeasSelfRealityWishSocialProcessInterestImaginationObjectsEvolutionDrawsConceptsOrganizationCamerasStructureScholarDefiniteRevealingSelf InterestMundaneConstraintsDigestionCandidPortrayingSocial OrganizationIconographyCandid Camera
Book:Eight little piggies: reflections in natural history
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“Nothing can better express the feelings of the scientist towards the great unity of the laws of nature than in Immanuel Kant's words: "Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing awe: the stars above me and the moral law within me."... Would he, who did not yet know of the evolution of the world of organisms, be shocked that we consider the moral law within us not as something given, a priori, but as something which has arisen by natural evolution, just like the laws of the heavens?”

KnowsWorldMindTwoFeelingsLawGivenHeavenStarsNaturalMoralEvolutionScientistUnityTwo ThingsAweOrganismsShockedLaws Of NatureMoral Law
Author:Konrad Lorenz
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“The American psychologist Julian Jaynes, in a controversial study on the origin of consciousness, argued that the bicameral mind - in which one of the hemispheres becomes specialized in silent reading - is a late development in humankind's evolution, and that the process by which this function develops is still changing.”

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Author:Alberto Manguel
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“I have shown that those who deplore Artificial Intelligence are also those who deplore the evolutionary accounts of human mentality: if human minds are non-miraculous products of evolution, then they are, in the requisite sense, artifacts, and all their powers must have an ultimately mechanical explanation. We are descended from macros and made of macros, and nothing we can do is beyond the power of huge assemblies of macros.”

IfsMindHumansMadeCan DoProductsHugeEvolutionAccountsExplanationHuman MindArtificial IntelligenceMentalityArtificialMiraculousAssemblyArtifactsMacro
Author:Daniel Dennett
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“I was brought up to believe in free will. Although I came to doubt all revelation, I can never accept the idea that the Universe is a physical or chemical accident, a result of blind evolution. Even though I learned to recognize the lies, the clichés and the idolatries of the human mind, I still cling to some truths which I think all of us might accept some day.”

ThinkingMindBelieveHumansStillsI CanIdeasMightLyingUniverseResultsAcceptingDoubtEvolutionBlindAccidentsRevelationsFree WillHuman MindChemicalsIdolatry
Book:Aspects of I.B. Singer
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“All that's known is this: there is no central processor, no single computer. Nothing that simple. Millions of neurons process information simultaneously and in parallel, not linearly, but the actual chemistry and electrical properties of that integrative process are still being mapped. Even so, it seems odd that during the evolution of brain circuitry and thinking, the ability to understand itself did not get wired in. Such built-in innocence seems like a terrible oversight.”

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Book:A Match to the Heart: One Woman's Story of Being Struck By Lightning
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“Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation forthe existence and apparently purposeful form of all life, has no purpose in mind. It has no mind and no mind's eye. It does not plan for the future. It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of the watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker.”

IfsKnowsMindDoeSaidPlayEyeFormPurposeProcessNaturalExistenceVisionRolesPlansEvolutionSightBlindSelfishExplanationUnconsciousSelectionNatural SelectionForesightSelfish GeneEvolution Of Life
Author:Richard Dawkins
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“A … difference between most system-building in the social sciences and systems of thought and classification of the natural sciences is to be seen in their evolution. In the natural sciences both theories and descriptive systems grow by adaptation to the increasing knowledge and experience of the scientists. In the social sciences, systems often issue fully formed from the mind of one man. Then they may be much discussed if they attract attention, but progressive adaptive modification as a result of the concerted efforts of great numbers of men is rare.”

IfsMenMindMaySocialGrowsNaturalDifferencesResultsNumbersEffortAttentionKnowledgeIssuesBuildingTheoryEvolutionScientistOne ManProgressiveAdaptationSocial ScienceNatural ScienceClassificationModificationKnowledge And ExperienceAdaptiveIncreasing Knowledge
Author:Lawrence Joseph Henderson
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“but art is not relative to perfection in any tangible sense. It is our coarse antennae trembling blindly as it traces the form of Origin, tastes the ephemeral glue welding us, yearning after the secret of ineluctable evolution, and wonders what this transformation will mean. In my mind, here was the best kind of art-the kind hoarded by rich and jealous collectors in their locked galleries; hidden from the eyes of the heathen masses, waiting to be shared with the ripe few”

MindKindMeanArtEyeFormWaitingSecretWonderRichEvolutionTasteMassArt IsPerfectionTransformationJealousRelativeYearningLockedGalleryTangibleRipeCollectorsTremblingEphemeralGlueCoarseHeathenWelding
Author:Laird Barron
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“No human mind may measure the blessings conferred by the game of base ball on the soldiers of the Civil War. It had its earliest evolution when soldiers, North and South, were striving to forget their foes by cultivating, through this grand game, fraternal friendships with comrades in arms.”

MindHumansMayWarGamesForgetArmsEvolutionBlessingBallsSouthStriveSoldierCivil WarHuman MindFoeComradeCultivatingNorth And SouthFraternal
Author:Albert Goodwill Spalding
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“The human mind has a desire to know its place in the universe and the role we play in the tapestry of life. This is actually hardwired into our brains, the desire the know our relationship to the universe. This was good for our evolution, since it enabled us to see our relationship to others and to nature which was good for our survival. And it is also what drives our curiosity to understand the universe.”

KnowsMindHumansPlayDesireUniverseBrainRolesEvolutionSurvivalCuriosityHuman MindOur RelationshipTapestryTapestry Of Life
Author:Michio Kaku
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“This earth is one of the rare spots in the cosmos where mind has flowered. Man is a product of nearly three billion years of evolution, in whose person the evolutionary process has at last become conscious of itself and its possibilities. Whether he likes it or not, he is responsible for the whole further evolution of our planet.”

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Author:Julian Huxley
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“The daily grinding of evolution, as accelerated by technology, churns out more and more complex organisms, with higher rates of energy use, and with increasing specialization. Minds are the ideal way to express complexity, energy density, increasing specialization, expanding diversity -- all in one system. Mindedness is what evolution produces. Mindedness is what technology wants, too.”

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Author:Kevin Kelly
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“It is essential for evolution to become the central core of any educational system, because it is evolution, in the broad sense, that links inorganic nature with life, and the stars with the earth, and matter with mind, and animals with man. Human history is a continuation of biological evolution in a different form.”

MenMindHumansDifferentMatterEarthFormStarsAnimalEvolutionEssentialsEducationalCoreBroadsLinksHuman HistoryEducational SystemContinuationBiological Evolution
Author:Julian Huxley
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“Technology is a liberation. I think the information age probably is the best thing to happen to the human race in human evolution. Now you have the equal opportunity to equip yourself through information and knowledge and express yourself as an independent mind.”

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Author:Ai Weiwei
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“In spite of all these disquieting triumphs in the field of natural science, it's astonishing how little man has learned about himself, and how much there is to learn. How little we know about this brain which made social evolution possible, and of the mind. How little we know of the nature and spirit of man and God. We stand now before this inner frontier of ignorance. If we could pass it, we might well discover the meaning of life and understand man's destiny.”

IfsKnowsMenMindWellsLittlesMadeMightSpiritSocialNaturalBrainDestinyFieldsIgnoranceEvolutionTriumphMeaning Of LifeSpiteFrontiersAstonishingNatural ScienceLittle Man
Author:Wilder Penfield
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“Dawkins asserts that final causes and design don't really exist. Unguided evolution explains it all. Francis Crick thought the same thing but was afraid people would be misled by what they actually saw. So he issued this warning: "Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved." What? A warning to ignore the obvious? Absolutely. Because if we don't ignore the obvious, we might be tempted to follow common sense and attribute the "appearance" of design to actual design.”

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Author:Frank Turek
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“The single combats of the heroes of history or fable amuse our fancy and engage our affections: the skillful evolutions of war may inform the mind, and improve a necessary, though pernicious, science. But in the uniform and odious pictures of a general assault, all is blood, and horror, and confusion . . .”

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Book:The Modern Library Essential World History 4-Book Bundle: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Abridged); Montcalm and Wolfe; History of the Conquest of Mexico; The Naval War of 1812
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“To suppose universal laws of nature capable of being apprehended by the mind and yet having no reason for their special forms, but standing inexplicable and irrational, is hardly a justifiable position. Uniformities are precisely the sort of facts that need to be accounted for. Law is par excellence the thing that wants a reason. Now the only possible way of accounting for the laws of nature, and for uniformity in general, is to suppose them results of evolution.”

WayWantNeedsMindReasonFactsFormLawResultsSpecialPositionEvolutionCapableStandingUniversalExcellenceNo ReasonIrrationalLaws Of NatureAccountingInexplicableUniformityUniversal Laws
Author:Charles Sanders Peirce
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“One way to think about what psychedelics are is as catalysts for language development. They literally force the evolution of language. You cannot evolve faster than your language because the language defines the culture of meaning. So if there's a way to accelerate the evolution of language then this is real consciousness expansion and it's a permanent thing. The great legacies of the 60's are in attitudes and language. It boils down to doing your own thing, feeling the vibe, ego-trip, blowing your mind.”

IfsThinkingWayMindRealFeelingsCultureLanguageForceConsciousnessAttitudeDevelopmentEvolutionEgoOne WayFasterLegacyEvolvePermanentExpansionCatalystAccelerateEgo TripDoing Your Own ThingPermanent ThingsLanguage DevelopmentEvolution Of Language
Author:Terence McKenna
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“But what, after all, is faith? It is a state of mind that leads people to believe something - it doesn't matter what - in the total absence of supporting evidence. If there were good supporting evidence then faith would be superfluous, for the evidence would compel us to believe it anyway. It is this that makes the often-parroted claim that 'evolution itself is a matter of faith' so silly. People believe in evolution not because they arbitrarily want to believe it but because of overwhelming, publicly available evidence.”

PeopleIfsWantMindBelieveMatterStatesWould BeEvolutionEvidenceClaimsAvailableAbsenceSillyOverwhelmingState Of MindSuperfluousSilly People
Author:Richard Dawkins
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“What disconcerts the modern world at its very roots is not being sure, and not seeing how it ever could be sure, that there is an outcome-a suitable outcome to evolution. Half our present uneasiness would be turned to happiness if we could once make up our minds to accept the facts and place the essence and the measure of our modern cosmogonies within a noogenesis.”

IfsWorldMindFactsWould BeHalfAcceptingSeeingModernEvolutionRootsEssenceOutcomesModern WorldSuitableUneasiness
Author:Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
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“I want to put it back together now, this artistic expression that contains religious feeling. I want to investigate: What was the origin? What's happened in the human mind? Can we trace back the moment of the creation of human consciousness? And why did only humans gain consciousness, not other animals? So, evolution? I don't know whether or not I can believe evolution. Maybe we wait for another 100,000 years and then apes get consciousness.”

KnowsWantYearsMindBelieveHumansI CanMomentsFeelingsTogetherWaitingReligiousAnimalConsciousnessHappenedCreationExpressionEvolutionGainsArtisticHuman MindApesBack TogetherHuman ConsciousnessArtistic Expression
Author:Hiroshi Sugimoto
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