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

“There are an awful lot of scientists today who believe that before very long we shall have unraveled all the secrets of the universe. There will be no puzzles anymore. To me, it'd be really, really tragic because I think one of the most exciting things is this feeling of mystery, feeling of awe, the feeling of looking at a little live thing and being amazed by it and how it has emerged through these hundreds of years of evolution and there it is and it is perfect and why.”

ThinkingYearsBelieveLittlesLongFeelingsTodayUniverseNaturePerfectSecretMysteryEvolutionScientistExcitingAwfulAweTragicAmazedPuzzlesExciting Things
Author:Jane Goodall
Create image

“Primates stand at a turning point in the course of evolution. Primates are to the biologist what viruses are to the biochemist. They can be analysed and partly understood according to the rules of a simpler discipline, but they also present another level of complexity: viruses are living chemicals, and primates are animals who love and hate and think.”

ThinkingScienceHateCoursesAnimalLevelsEvolutionDisciplineUnderstoodComplexityChemicalsVirusesTurning PointsLove And HateBiologistPrimates
Author:Alison Jolly
Create image

“Well, it [evolution] is a theory, it is a scientific theory only, and it has in recent years been challenged in the world of science and is not yet believed in the scientific community to be as infallible as it once was believed. But if it was going to be taught in the schools, then I think that also the biblical theory of creation, which is not a theory but the biblical story of creation, should also be taught.”

IfsThinkingWorldShouldYearsWellsStoriesSchoolScienceCommunityCreationTaughtTheoryEvolutionBiblicalInfallibleScientific Theory
Author:Ronald Reagan
Create image

“You know, all is development. The principle is perpetually going on. First, there was nothing, then there was something; then-I forget the next-I think there were shells, then fishes; then we came-let me see-did we come next? Never mind that; we came at last. And at the next change there will be something very superior to us-something with wings. Ah! That's it: we were fishes, and I believe we shall be crows.”

ThinkingKnowsMindFirstsBelieveLastsScienceNextI BelieveForgetPrinciplesDevelopmentEvolutionLet MeWingsFishesSuperiorsShellsCrow
Book:Tancred: Or, The New Crusade
Create image

“Man is a megalomaniac among animals-if he sees mountains he will try to imitate them by pyramids, and if he sees some grand process like evolution, and thinks it would be at all possible for him to be in on that game, he would irreverently have to have his whack at that too. That daring megalomania of his-has it not brought him to his present place?”

IfsThinkingMenTryingWould BeScienceGamesProcessAnimalEvolutionMountainDaringPyramidsMegalomaniaMegalomaniacs
Author:Jacques Loeb
Create image

“Part of what makes a language 'alive' is its constant evolution. I would hate to think Britain would ever emulate France, where they actually have a learned faculty whose job it is to attempt to prevent the incursion of foreign words into the language. I love editing Harry with Arthur Levine, my American editor-the differences between 'British English' (of which there must be at least 200 versions) and 'American English' (ditto!) are a source of constant interest and amusement to me.”

ThinkingJobsHateLanguageInterestDifferencesWiseAliveSourceEvolutionConstantWittyBritishVersionsFranceBritainFacultyEditorsEditingAmusementArthurEmulateAmerican English
Author:J. K. Rowling
Create image

“Think of it : zillions and zillions of organisms running around, each under the hypnotic spell of a single truth, all these truths identical, and all logically incompatible with one another : 'My hereditary material is the most important material on earth; its survival justifies your frustration, pain, even death'. And you are one of those organisms, living your life in the thrall of a logical absurdity.”

ThinkingImportantRunningEarthPainMaterialsEvolutionSurvivalFrustrationJustifyLogicalSpellsOrganismsLive Your LifeAbsurdityIdenticalHereditaryHypnotic
Book:The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology
Create image

“Some physicists solve that problem of the necessity of finely tuned physical constants ... by invoking the anthropic principle, saying, well, here we are, we exist, we have to be in the kind of universe capable of giving rise to us. That in itself is, I think, unsatisfying, and as John Lennox rightly says, some physicists solve that by the multiverse idea-the idea that our universe is just one of many universes.”

ThinkingGivingWellsKindIdeasProblemUniversePrinciplesEvolutionCapableSolveJust OnePhysicistMultiverseAnthropic Principle
Author:Richard Dawkins
Create image

“It may be quite true that some negroes are better than some white men; but no rational man, cognisant of the facts, believes that the average negro is the equal, still less the superior, of the average white man. And, if this be true, it is simply incredible that, when all his disabilities are removed, and our prognathous relative has a fair field and no favour, as well as no oppressor, he will be able to compete successfully with his bigger-brained and smaller-jawed rival, in a contest which is to be carried on by thoughts and not by bites.”

ThinkingMenBelieveStillsFactsAbleWhiteEvolutionEqualBiggerIncrediblesAverageSuperiorsRationalBitesContestsWhite ManRivalsCognizant
Author:Thomas Huxley
Create image

“Once we see, however, that the probability of life originating at random is so utterly minuscule as to make it absurd, it becomes sensible to think that the favorable properties of physics, on which life depends, are in every respect deliberate.... It is, therefore, almost inevitable that our own measure of intelligence must reflect higher intelligence -even to the limit of God.”

ThinkingDependsEvolutionHigherLimitsPropertyPhysicsAbsurdInevitableSensibleProbabilityDeliberateOrigin Of Life
Author:Fred Hoyle
Create image

“What is striking is these things [patterns in nature, e.g. fish stripes] do look like something that has been crafted. We are conditioned to think that a pattern needs a patterner and so at first glance it seems incredible to us that nature is able to do this, without any sort of blueprint, without any sort of plan. These patterns organise themselves, that is the amazing thing.”

ThinkingNeedsFirstsLooksHas BeensSeemsAblePlansEvolutionIncrediblesPatternsFishesGlancesLike SomethingAmazing ThingsBlueprintsStripes
Author:Philip Ball
Create image

“For the production of man a different apprenticeship [from forests] was needed to sharpen the wits and quicken the higher manifestations of intellect - a more open veldt country where competition was keener between swiftness and stealth, and where adroitness of thinking played a preponderating role in the preservation of the species.”

ThinkingMenDifferentCountryRolesEvolutionNeededHigherCompetitionSpeciesProductionsIntellectWitForestsManifestationPreservationApprenticeshipStealthSwiftness
Author:Raymond Dart
Create image

“Each person decides in early childhood how he will live and how he will die... His trivial behavior may be decided by reason, but his important decisions have already been made: what kind of person he will marry, how many children he will have, what kind of bed he will die in... It is incredible to think, at first, that man's fate, all his nobility and all his degradation, is decided by a child no more than six years old, and usually three... (but) it is very easy to believe by looking at what is happening in the world today, and what happened yesterday, and seeing what will happen tomorrow.”

ThinkingMenWorldYearsFirstsBelieveKindMayChildrenPersonsMadeImportantReasonHappensTodayDiesThreeEasyDecisionFateSeeingHappenedChildhoodEvolutionTomorrowBedBehaviorSixHappeningsDecidedIncrediblesYesterdayNobilityWorld TodayDegradationEarly ChildhoodSix Year OldsImportant Decisions
Author:Eric Berne
Create image

“I have been a biologist for a long time, and I hope I never stop getting shivers in my spine when I think about the beauty of how we come to know things in biology. Biologists make predictions, then they go out into the field or the lab to see if their predictions hold up. When hundreds of predictions of this sort are fulfilled, a theory reaches the point where it becomes certain, at least on a broad level. And that is where we are with evolution.”

IfsThinkingKnowsLongHas BeensCertainLevelsFieldsTheoryEvolutionLong TimeBiologyBroadsFulfilledPredictionsSpineLabsBiologistShiver
Author:Darrel R. Falk
Create image

“Why was the human race created? Or at least why wasn't something creditable created in place of it? God had His opportunity. He could have made a reputation. But no, He must commit this grotesque folly - a lark which must have cost Him a regret or two when He came to think it over and observe effects.”

ThinkingHumansMadeTwoOpportunityRaceEffectsRegretEvolutionCostCommitReputationHuman RaceFollyGrotesqueLarks
Book:Mark Twain’s Letters & Speeches (Annotated Edition)
Create image

“To this culture warrior, gay marriage is not a vital issue. I don't believe the republic will collapse if Larry marries Brendan. However, it is clear that most Americans want heterosexual marriage to maintain its special place in American society. And as long as gays are not penalized in the civil arena, I think the folks should make the call at the ballot box. Traditional marriage is widely seen as a social stabilizer, and I believe that is true.”

IfsThinkingWantShouldBelieveLongCultureI BelieveSocialIssuesClearSpecialEvolutionGayDon't BelieveFolksBoxesTraditionalWarriorRepublicCollapseArenaGay MarriageBallotsLarryAmerican SocietySpecial PlacesTraditional MarriageHeterosexual Marriage
Author:Bill O'Reilly
Create image

“I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects. And I think we are seeing almost weekly or even daily scientists are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change.”

ThinkingMenMadeIdeasNumbersSeeingEvolutionProjectsScientistOriginalsDollarsClimateClimate ChangeDataGlobal WarmingQuestioningRollingOriginal Ideas
Author:Rick Perry
Create image

“Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.”

ThinkingLostEducationKnowledgeTeachLearningWiseTeachingEvolutionYogaLaborExcellenceParentingMathCleverTeaching And LearningIndependent ThoughtTeaching And EducationTeaching EducationConfucianismTeaching LearningIndependent ThinkingGood TeachingMath EducationStudent LearningChinese PhilosophyPhilosophy Of EducationConfucianImportance Of EducationTraining And EducationLearning Math
Book:Confucian Analects
Create image

“What we should be teaching are the problems and holes and I think there are legitimate problems and holes in the theory of evolution. And what we need to do is to present those fairly from a scientific point of view. And we should lay out areas in which the evidence supports evolution and the areas in the evidence that does not.”

ThinkingNeedsShouldDoeProblemViewsSupportTeachingTheoryEvolutionEvidenceAreasLaysPoint Of ViewHolesTheory Of Evolution
Author:Rick Santorum
Create image

“I've got my laptop, but it troubles me in many ways. I don't have Twitter or Facebook or anything like that. It ruins a romantic idea, which might just be an illusion, a sense of depth or continuity. I know there are lots of positives in the evolution of technology, but I also think it will be responsible for the end of a unique character, of a specific kind of geographical culture. The world is getting so small, and mass production is getting so big. Everything is in danger of becoming the same.”

ThinkingKnowsWorldWayKindIdeasEndsCharacterBigsMightCultureTechnologyTroubleDangerEvolutionBecomingMassUniqueIllusionResponsibleDepthProductionsRuinsContinuityBeing ResponsibleLaptopsMass ProductionEvolution Of Technology
Author:Laura Marling
Create image

“When you’ve had children, your body changes; there’s history to it. I like the evolution of that history; I’m fortunate to be with somebody who likes the evolution of that history. I think it’s important to not eradicate it. I look at someone’s face and I see the work before I see the person... You’re certainly not staving off the inevitable. And if you’re doing it out of fear, that fear’s still going to be seen through your eyes. The windows to your soul, they say.”

IfsThinkingLooksChildrenPersonsStillsImportantSoulBodyEyeFacesEvolutionWindowYour BodyLikesInevitableYour SoulFortunateSurgeryPlastic SurgeryBody Change
Author:Cate Blanchett
Create image