Quotessence
Home / Topics / Evolution Quotes

Evolution Quotes

Browse 3937 quotes about Evolution.

Related topics

HumansIfsMenScienceThinkingWorldTheoryProcessBelievePeopleSpeciesKnowsYearsNaturalWayFactsHas BeensProgressUniverseCreationMindIdeasMayTheory Of EvolutionConsciousnessFirstsDoeEvolveMeanEarthWellsWholeAnimalFormIndividualNeedsHuman EvolutionWantAtheismSpiritualTwoShouldDifferentSelectionMatterKindLongDesignSocialNatural SelectionReasonImportantStillsEvidenceHigherLawMadeBrainDevelopmentGivingReligionViewsTryingCoursesHuman BeingsLooksPlanetsProductsSeemsStatesI BelieveSurvivalRealStageNextProblemSoulTermUnderstandingUseWould BeExistenceMillionsSelfTodayBiologyForceOrderConsciousCultureLevelsRaceBeliefEndsHumanityLittlesOrganismsResultsFeelsMightmore

Evolution Quotes

“As to harmonizing the theory of evolution with the Biblical account of creation, I do not believe it can be done, and I do not see why it should be. The story of Genesis is beautiful, and profoundly significant as symbolism: there is no good reason to torture it into conformity with modern theory.”

ShouldBelieveReasonDoneStoriesBeautifulReligionModernCreationTheoryEvolutionAccountsSignificantTortureConformityBiblicalGenesisSymbolismTheory Of Evolution
Author:Will Durant
Create image

“Those who would legislate against the teaching of evolution should also legislate against gravity, electricity and the unreasonable velocity of light, and also, should introduce a clause to prevent the use of the telescope, the microscope and the spectroscope or any other instrument of precision which may in the future be invented, constructed or used for the discovery of truth.”

ShouldMayUseLightUsedReligionAtheismTeachingEvolutionDiscoveryInstrumentsGravityIntroducingElectricityPrecisionUnreasonableTelescopesMicroscopesClausesVelocity
Author:Luther Burbank
Create image

“Creationists argue that natural selection is only a negative process, and therefore cannot create anything. Chopra argues that skepticism is only a negative process, and therefore does not lead to knowledge. Both are wrong for the same reasons. They ignore the generation of diversity and new ideas upon which natural selection and skepticism acts. Weeding out the unfit is critical to both - natural selection allows evolution to proceed, and skepticism allows science to advance.”

DoeIdeasReasonReligionProcessNaturalGenerationsAtheismEvolutionDiversityNegativeCriticalArguingWeedSkepticismNew IdeasSelectionNatural Selection
Author:Steven Novella
Create image

“I think that local school districts - not the federal government - should make the decision about how they teach science, biology, economics. I want my kids to be taught about evolution; I want my kids to be taught about other theories.”

ThinkingWantShouldGovernmentKidsSchoolScienceReligionPoliticsChurchDecisionEducationFamilyTeachPolicyTaughtTheoryEvolutionEconomicsConstitutionSeparationLocalsIdeologyBiologyFederal GovernmentChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateSchool Districts
Author:Bobby Jindal
Create image

“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”

Has BeensBeautifulFormLawReligionSimpleViewsGoneWonderfulAtheismPlanetsEvolutionSpeciesEndlessEvolveFixedGravityGrandeurNatural SelectionCyclingTheory Of EvolutionOrigin Of LifeOrigin Of SpeciesCreation And EvolutionEvolution Of Life
Author:Charles Darwin
Create image

“The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.”

LifeDoeGodSeemsMotivationalSpiritualLyingCertainReligionSpiritualityFearKnowledgePathAtheismMankindEvolutionBlindStriveAtheistGenuineRationalScience And ReligionFear Of DeathReligious FaithRelativitySpiritual PathRational ThinkingAtheisticSpirit Of GodBlind FaithReligion GodGod LifeKnowledge Of GodScience ReligionFears Of LifeMore KnowledgeReligious LifeMorality And ReligionSpiritual EvolutionFaith ReligionGod And ScienceScience GodSpiritual KnowledgeGreatest AtheistHave Faith In GodCertain DeathCertain KnowledgeAdvances In ScienceSpiritual FaithGod And LifeGod Is RealGenuine Life
Book:Ideas and Opinions
Create image

“We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures; because the earth never froze entirely during an ice age; because a small and tenuous species, arising in Africa a quarter of a million years ago, has managed, so far, to survive by hook and by crook. We may yearn for a ‘higher answer’– but none exists”

YearsMayAgeEarthReligionAnswersMillionsGroupsAtheismEvolutionHigherCreaturesYears AgoSpeciesAtheistFishesLegsIceOddPeculiarQuartersHookAnatomyCrooksIce AgeFins
Author:Stephen Jay Gould
Create image

“During the youthful period of mankind's spiritual evolution human fantasy created gods in man's own image, who, by the operations of their will were supposed to determine, or at any rate to influence, the phenomenal world. Man sought to alter the disposition of these gods in his own favour by means of magic and prayer.”

MenWorldHumansMeanSpiritualReligionPrayerFantasyMagicInfluenceMankindEvolutionPeriodsRateDetermineOperationsDispositionFavourScience And ReligionPhenomenalPhilosophy Of ReligionPhilosophy And ReligionSpiritual Evolution
Book:Out of My Later Years: The Scientist, Philosopher, and Man Portrayed Through His Own Words
Create image

“Any strategy that attempts to reinforce faith by undermining science is also doomed to failure. Showing that some scientific theory is wrong will not prove that the religious alternative is correct by default. When the sun was shown not to be the center of the universe, as Copernicus had proposed, the Earth was not moved back to that singular position in the cosmos. If Darwinian evolution is proved wrong, biologists will not develop a new theory based on the hypothesis that each species was created separately by God 6,000years ago.”

IfsEarthReligionUniverseReligiousSunPositionTheoryEvolutionProveMovedStrategySpeciesAlternativesCosmosDoomedHypothesisDefaultBiologistUnderminingScientific TheoryCenter Of The UniverseCopernicus
Author:Victor J. Stenger
Create image

“In short, evolution is as close to being a scientific fact as is possible for any theory, given that science is open - ended and no one can predict with certainty what may change in the future. The prospect that evolution by natural selection, at least as a broad mechanism, will be overthrown in the future is about as likely as the prospect of finding out some day that the Earth is really flat. Unfortunately, those who regard these scientific facts as a threat to faith have chosen to distort and misrepresent them to the public.”

MayFactsEarthReligionGivenNaturalAtheismTheoryEvolutionFindingsRegardThreatChosenCertaintyFlatsBroadsMechanismSelectionNatural SelectionScientific Facts
Author:Victor J. Stenger
Create image

“The battle over the validity of evolution has been publicly posed as a scientific one. However, you will find little sign of it in scientific journals, where such quarrels as exist are over details, not the basic concept... Evolution has proved so useful as a paradigm for the origin and structure of life that it constitutes the foundation of the sciences of biology and medicine.”

LittlesHas BeensReligionAtheismEvolutionBattleConceptsFoundationStructureMedicineDetailsBiologyJournalQuarrelsParadigmValidity
Book:Has Science Found God?: The Latest Results in the Search for Purpose in the Universe
Create image

“Since we proposed punctuated equilibria to explain trends, it is infuriating to be quoted again and again by creationists-whether through design or stupidity, I do not know-as admitting that the fossil record includes no transitional forms. Transitional forms are generally lacking at the species level, but they are abundant between larger groups.”

KnowsFormReligionLevelsRecordsGroupsDesignMinesEvolutionSpeciesStupidityTrendsAgain And AgainLackingFossilsEquilibriumAdmittingMiningPaleontologyInfuriatingBiological Evolution
Book:Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes: Further Reflections in Natural History
Create image

“Evolution has encountered no intellectual trouble; no new arguments have been offered. Creationism is a home-grown phenomenon of American sociocultural history-a splinter movement ... who believe that every word in the Bible must be literally true, whatever such a claim might mean.”

BelieveMeanHas BeensHomeMightScienceReligionBeliefTroubleMovementEvolutionIntellectualArgumentClaimsPhenomenonCreationismSplinters
Book:Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms
Create image

“The puritanical potentialities of science have never been forecast. If it evolves a body of organized rites, and is established as a religion, hierarchically organized, things more than anything else will be done in the name of 'decency.' The coarse fumes of tobacco and liquors, the consequent tainting of the breath and staining of white fingers and teeth, which is so offensive to many women, will be the first things attended to.”

IfsFirstsDoneBodyScienceReligionNamesWhiteEvolutionBreathsFingersTeethEvolveOrganizedOffensiveDecencyTobaccoLiquorRiteCoarseForecasts
Author:Wyndham Lewis
Create image

“(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
Create image

“I have encountered a few "creationists" and because they were usually nice, intelligent people, I have been unable to decide whether they were really mad or only pretending to be mad. If I was a religious person, I would consider creationism nothing less than blasphemy. Do its adherents imagine that God is a cosmic hoaxer who has created the whole vast fossil record for the sole purpose of misleading humankind?”

PeopleIfsPersonsHas BeensWholePurposeReligionReligiousRecordsNiceImagineEvolutionIntelligentMadPretendingCosmicHumankindImagine ThatSoleFossilsMisleadBlasphemyCreationismReligious Person
Author:Arthur C. Clarke
Create image

“The distribution of species on islands and continents throughout the world is exactly what you'd expect if evolution was a fact. The distribution of fossils in space and in time are exactly what you would expect if evolution were a fact. There are millions of facts all pointing in the same direction and no facts pointing in the wrong direction.”

IfsWorldFactsReligionSpaceMillionsAtheismEvolutionSpeciesIslandsContinentsDistributionFossilsPointingWrong Direction
Author:Richard Dawkins
Create image

“In fact, nothing in science as a whole has been more firmly established by interwoven factual information, or more illuminating than the universal occurrence of biological evolution. Further, few natural processes have been more convincingly explained than evolution by the theory of natural selection, or as it has been popularly called, Darwinism.”

Has BeensWholeFactsReligionProcessNaturalAtheismInformationTheoryEvolutionUniversalSelectionNatural SelectionFactualDarwinismIlluminatingBiological Evolution
Author:E. O. Wilson
Create image

“New knowledge has led to the recognition in the theory of evolution of more than a hypothesis. It is indeed remarkable that this theory has been progressively accepted by researchers, following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge. The convergence, neither sought nor fabricated, of the results of work that was conducted independently is in itself a significant argument in favor of this theory.”

Has BeensTodayReligionResultsHalfAtheismCenturyFieldsTheoryEvolutionDiscoveryArgumentSeriesVariousFollowingAcceptedFavorsSignificantRecognitionRemarkableHypothesisPublicationResearchersTheory Of EvolutionConvergenceNew KnowledgeHalf A Century
Author:Pope John Paul II
Create image

“Science and religion...are friends, not foes, in the common quest for knowledge. Some people may find this surprising, for there's a feeling throughout our society that religious belief is outmoded, or downright impossible, in a scientific age. I don't agree. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that if people in this so-called 'scientific age' knew a bit more about science than many of them actually do, they'd find it easier to share my views.”

PeopleIfsMayFactsFeelingsAgeScienceReligionBeliefBitsReligiousViewsCommonKnowledgeImpossibleSocietyShareEvolutionEasierAgreeOur SocietySurprisingQuestsScience And ReligionTheologianPhysicistFoeReligious BeliefScientismThirst For KnowledgeHungry For Knowledge
Author:John Polkinghorne
Create image

“Communistic evolution, according to the Senate committee that examined it, is responsible for 135 million deaths in peacetime. There's no religion that has a tiny fraction of that many deaths on its conscience. There are scientists who will admit that there's not one iota of scientific evidence to support it.”

ReligionMillionsSupportAtheismEvolutionConscienceEvidenceScientistResponsibleTinySenateCommitteesFractionsScientific Evidence
Author:D. James Kennedy
Create image