Home / Topics / Evolution Quotes

Evolution Quotes

Browse 3937 quotes about Evolution.

Evolution Quotes

“Each time you dip into the well of existence it changes you. Rapid mental development is that process. It is a process of escalating your evolution.”

Inspirational Wells Process Existence Buddhism Development Evolution Rapids Dip Escalating

Author:Frederick Lenz

“Jonathan Wells has done us all - the scientific community, educators, and the wider public - a great service. In Icons of Evolution he has brilliantly exposed the exaggerated claims and deceptions that have persisted in standard textbook discussions of biological origins for many decades, in spite of contrary evidence. these claims have been so often repeated that they seem unassailable - that is, until one reads Wells's book.”

Wells Has Beens Book Done Seems Community Evolution Standards Evidence Claims Decades Contrary Deception Discussion Spite Exposed Icons Educator Textbooks Exaggerated Great Service

Author:Dean H. Kenyon

“Is there evil but on earth? Or pain in every peopled sphere? Well, be grateful for the sounding watchword "Evolution" here.”

People Wells Earth Pain Evil Evolution Grateful Spheres Be Grateful

Author:Alfred Lord Tennyson

“Human beings were not well served by permanence or stasis. Obviously, if individuals were progressing, they were undergoing a series of presumably desirable alterations, but in a universe where flux is fundamental, it can be argued that even change for the worse is preferable to no change at all. Isn't fixity the hallmark of the living dead?.”

Ifs Humans Wells Universe Individual Human Beings Progress Evolution Fundamentals Series Desirable Permanence Hallmark Flux Alterations Stasis

Book:Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates

Source: Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates

“Our whole evolution up to this point shows that human groups spontaneously evolve patterns of behavior, as well as patterns of training people for that behavior, which tend on balance to lead people to create rather than destroy. Humans are, on net balance, builders rather than destroyers.”

People Humans Wells Whole Shows Groups Evolution Balance Behavior Training Patterns Evolve Builder Destroyers

Book:The Ultimate Resource 2

Source: The Ultimate Resource 2

“My feeling is that Darwinism is only at best a partial solution, and an extremely dangerous partial solution. I would say, based on the little I know, Darwinism explains microevolution within species quite well. As to its broader consequence and implications, I don't think it explains individual species evolution at all well.”

Thinking Knows Wells Littles Feelings Individual Dangerous Evolution Solutions Consequence Species Implications Darwinism

Author:Ben Stein

“Brambles, in particular, protect and nourish young fruit trees, and on farms bramble clumps (blackberry or one of its related cultivars) can be used to exclude deer and cattle from newly set trees. As the trees (apple, quince, plum, citrus, fig) age, and the brambles are shaded out, hoofed animals come to eat fallen fruit, and the mature trees (7 plus years old) are sufficiently hardy to withstand browsing. Our forest ancestors may well have followed some such sequences for orchard evolution, assisted by indigenous birds and mammals.”

“If we want to postulate a deity capable of engineering all the organized complexity in the world, either instantaneously or by guiding evolution, that deity must have been vastly complex in the first place. The creationist, whether a naive Bible-thumper or an educated bishop, simply postulates an already existing being of prodigious intelligence and complexity. If we are going to allow ourselves the luxury of postulating organized complexity without offering an explanation, we might as well make a job of it and simply postulate the existence of life as we know it!”

“We invent mind-space inside our own heads as well as the heads of others ... we assume these 'spaces' without question. They are a part of what it is to be conscious. Moreover, things that in the physical-behavioural world that do not have a spatial quality are made to have such in consciousness. Otherwise we cannot be conscious of them.”

World Mind Wells Made Space Consciousness Quality Evolution Conscious Assuming Spatial

Author:Julian Jaynes

“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.”

“The two-party system has served America very well. We always have political movements one way or another but the evolution of a lasting third party probably will not happen.”

Way Wells Two Happens America Political Party Movement Evolution Thirds One Way Lasting Third Parties Political Movements Two Party System

Author:Dan Quayle

“Revolution ain't nothing but an extent of evolution; Evolution is a fact of nature. So when old folks tell me that they don't understand hip hop and the music is too loud, well I guess it means you're not supposed to be in there.”

Wells Mean Facts Revolution Evolution Music Is Folks Hip Hop Hips Supposed To Be Loud Hops

Author:Dick Gregory

“If the oncoming mutation to interstellar immortality is screwed up by the politicians, it will be because those of us who see the opportunities in modern science are not adroit enough to outmaneuver the forces of inertia, stupidity and greed. Well, if we're not intelligent enough to overcome such obstacles, then we don't deserve to carry off the mutation at this stage of evolution.”

“The new advocates of ID [Intelligent Design] ask that their ideas be judged by scientific, not religious, criteria. OK, let's see how well ID stacks up as a scientific alternative to Darwinism. To gauge how well ID is doing as a platform for scientific research, I logged into the best database of the biological literature. A search for keyword ''evolution'' yielded 24,000 hits in the last decade. A search for ''intelligent design'' yielded not a single piece of research. Evolution by natural selection remains the basis of every successful biological research program.”

“A somewhat casual observer from outer space might well deduce that the course of evolution in this planet had produced a species of large four-wheeled bugs with detachable brains; peculiar animals which rested when they sent their brains away from them but performed in rather predictable manner when their brains were recalled.”

Wells Might Courses Space Animal Brain Four Planets Evolution Species Peculiar Observers Bugs Casual Predictable Outer Space

Author:Kenneth E. Boulding

“That man can interrogate as well as observe nature was a lesson slowly learned in his evolution.”

Men Wells Evolution Lessons

Author:William Osler

“It takes time and devotion to learn the language of color and lighting in the garden. Your tastes are sure to change over time, reflecting your inner evolution. Seeing the garden as a canvas for your celebration of Nature's palette is a wonderful expression of the soul's love of beauty and artistry. Your own inner intuition, however, is often your best teacher, but don't forget that Mother Nature will always have a few surprises up Her sleeve as well.”

“Well, evolution's just a theory.' And, I'm thinking to myself, 'Well, thank goodness gravity's a law.'”

Thinking Wells Humor Funny Law Theory Evolution Goodness Gravity

Author:Marc Maron

“There are a lot of black men doing really well, taking care of their families, taking care of their wives, being successful, doing the right thing, promoting the right thing. There needs to be an evolution in our portrayal. We have to come together, pool our resources and tell our own stories. People won't respect us unless we make them.”

People Men Needs Wells Stories Care Together Black Successful Wife Evolution Resources Right Thing Being Successful Pool Promoting Doing The Right Thing Portrayal Story People

Author:Thomas Jones

“The simplest scheme of evolution is one that depends on two processes; a generator and a test. The task of the generator is to produce variety, new forms that have not existed previously, whereas the task of the test is to cull out the newly generated forms so that only those that are well fitted to the environment will survive.”

Wells Two Form Process Environment Produce Depends Evolution Tasks Tests Variety Schemes Simplest Generator

Author:Herbert Simon

“In the first Chucky film, there's a scene in the elevator where a woman is just bringing food to a friend's home and they're in that cage elevator. She says, 'What an ugly doll,' and walks away. As the elevator begins to descend, Brad just decides he's going to drop this in and it was so simple but he just goes 'F*&k you,' and the audience went crazy. It was really a marker for us, and an evolution to understand what the potential of not just this killer, but this guy that obviously has some opinions as well.”

Firsts Wells Home Film Guy Simple Walks Opinion Audience Crazy Evolution Scene Ugly Killers Cages This Guy Dolls Elevators Brad Markers

Author:David Kirschner

“Memetics provides a new approach to the evolution of language in which we apply Darwinian thinking to two replicators, not one. On this theory, memetic selection, as well as genetic selection, does the work of creating language.”

Thinking Wells Doe Two Language Theory Evolution Approach Creating Selection New Approach Evolution Of Language

Book:The Meme Machine

Source: The Meme Machine

“There is first the problem of acquiring content, which is learning. There is another problem of acquiring learning skills, which is not merely learning, but learning to learn, not velocity, but acceleration. Learning to learn is one of the great inventions of living things. It is tremendously important. It makes evolution, biological as well as social, go faster. And it involves the development of the individual.”

Firsts Wells Important Problem Individual Social Development Evolution Skills Invention Faster Living Things Velocity Acceleration Great Inventions

Author:Ralph W. Gerard

“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.”

Ifs Knows Men Mind Wells Littles Made Might Spirit Social Natural Brain Destiny Fields Ignorance Evolution Triumph Meaning Of Life Spite Frontiers Astonishing Natural Science Little Man

Author:Wilder Penfield

“It's really an organic sort of process. You start off with the character on the page. You fall in love with that character and you have to represent that character well and I think it's just an evolution there. Using the accent and speaking the lines with the accent in fact opens the door to who the character really is.”

Thinking Wells Character Facts Fall Process Lines Doors Evolution Pages Falling In Love Accents

Author:Ioan Gruffudd

“To be sure, Darwin's theory of evolution is imperfect. However, the fact that a scientific theory cannot yet render an explanation on every point should not be used as a pretext to thrust an untestable alternative hypothesis grounded in religion into the science classroom or to misrepresent well-established scientific propositions.”

Should Wells Facts Used Theory Evolution Alternatives Explanation Imperfect Classroom Grounded Propositions Hypothesis Thrust Pretext Scientific Theory Theory Of Evolution

Author:Jon Jones

“In some ways, to believe in evolution is almost like a following; a cult following - if you don't believe in evolution, you're considered completely backward. That seems to me very indicative of bias as well.”

Ifs Way Believe Wells Seems Evolution Don't Believe Following Bias Cult

Author:Michele Bachmann

“Since the white man says he came from the evolution of animals, well, maybe the black man didn't. The white man has made so many errors in the handling of people that maybe he did come from a gorilla or a fish and crawl up on the sand and then into the trees. Of course, evolution doesn't take God into consideration. I don't think people learned to do all the things they do through evolution.”

People Thinking Men Wells Made God Courses Black White Animal Tree Evolution Errors Fishes Sand Consideration White Man Gorillas

Author:Charles Mingus

“Evolution by natural selection is not an idle hypothesis. The genetic variation on which selection acts is well understood in principle all the way down to the molecular level.”

Way Wells Natural Levels Principles Evolution Understood Idle Hypothesis Selection Variation Natural Selection

Author:E. O. Wilson

“People have taken advantage of the very well-trodden pathways that divide science and faith on other issues, such as creation, evolution, and the age of the universe, to pigeonhole climate change as yet another variant on the same theme.”

People Wells Age Universe Issues Taken Creation Evolution Advantage Climate Climate Change Theme Divides Pathways Taken Advantage

Author:Katharine Hayhoe

“Women in Jordan are participating in all aspects of civil as well as political life - as female judges, parliamentarians, businesswomen. And the evolution will continue. This is not something that happens overnight.”

Wells Happens Political Judging Evolution Female Aspect Jordan Participating Political Life

Author:Queen Rania of Jordan

“Evolution has led to some populations of people being able to digest milk without much trouble when they're adults as well.”

People Wells Able Trouble Evolution Adults Population Milk

Author:Carl Zimmer

“The parts of the [Civil Right] Movement we recognize so well now were not born from a single decision, but were a complicated and messy evolution of ideas and spirits, coming together after a long, hard struggle to triumph in moments when the odds seemed the longest.”

Wells Long Ideas Hard Moments Together Spirit Born Decision Struggle Movement Evolution Complicated Triumph Odds Messy Coming Together Civil Right Movement

Author:Andrew Aydin

“I have always had this basic biological question in terms of evolution, if the drive to evolution is to like survive. An organism that survives well, there is really no need for consciousness in there.”

Ifs Needs Wells Term Consciousness Evolution Organisms

Author:Jerry Garcia

“Evolution is a very, very important idea. It is the explanation for all of life - a stunningly simple, yet powerful explanation. If you think about it, before Darwin, we hadn't the foggiest idea of how we came into being. Now we do. It's still such an exciting idea that it is well worth everybody understanding it.”

Ifs Thinking Wells Stills Important Ideas Understanding Simple Powerful Evolution Exciting Explanation

Author:Richard Dawkins

“Well, the first thing is that truth and power for me form an antithesis, an antagonism, which will hardly ever be resolved. I can define in fact, can simplify the history of human society, the evolution of human society, as a contest between power and freedom.”

Firsts Humans Wells I Can Facts Form Evolution Contests Simplify Human Society Antithesis Antagonism

Author:Wole Soyinka

“With the passage of time, as well as the social evolution and genetic exchange, we ended up putting our conscience in the color of our blood and the salt of our tears.”

Wells Social Blood Tears Color Evolution Conscience Passages Salt Passage Of Time

Author:Jose Saramago

“Sometimes I would like to cry. I close my eyes. Why weren't we designed so that we can close our ears as well? (Perhaps because we would never open them.) Is there some way that I could accelerate my evolution and develop earlids?”

Way Wells Sometimes Eye Cry Evolution Ears Accelerate

Book:Behind the Scenes at the Museum: A Novel

Source: Behind the Scenes at the Museum: A Novel

“Human beings are so destructive. I sometimes think we're a kind of plague, that will scrub the earth clean. We destroy things so well that I sometimes think, maybe that's our function. Maybe every few eons, some animal comes along that kills off the rest of the world, clears the decks, and lets evolution proceed to its next phase.”

Thinking World Humans Wells Kind Sometimes Earth Next Human Beings Animal Evolution Function Clean Destructive Phases Plague Deck

Book:Michael Crichton's Jurassic World

Source: Michael Crichton's Jurassic World

“With the passing of time, as well as the social evolution and genetic exchange, we ended up putting our conscience in the colour of blood and in the salt of tears, and, as if that were not enough, we made our eyes into a kind of mirror turned inwards, with the result that they often show without reserve what we are verbally trying to deny.”

Ifs Trying Wells Kind Made Enough Shows Eye Social Results Blood Tears Evolution Conscience Mirrors Deny Passing Passings Colour Salt Reserves

Author:Jose Saramago

“All political theories assume, of course, that most individuals are very ignorant. Those who plead for liberty differ from the rest in that they include among the ignorant themselves as well as the wisest. Compared with the totality of knowledge which is continually utilized in the evolution of a dynamic civilization, the difference between the knowledge that the wisest and that the most ignorant individual can deliberately employ is comparatively insignificant.”

Wells Political Courses Individual Differences Liberty Theory Evolution Civilization Assuming Ignorant Insignificant Wisest Totality Political Theory

Author:Friedrich August von Hayek

“There are sacraments of evil as well as of good about us, and we live and move to my belief in an unknown world, a place where there are caves and shadows and dwellers in twilight. It is possible that man may sometimes return on the track of evolution, and it is my belief that an awful lore is not yet dead.”

Men World Wells May Sometimes Moving Evil Belief Return Evolution Shadow Track Awful Twilight Sacraments Caves Dwellers Unknown Worlds

Book:The White People and Other Stories: The Best Weird Tales of Arthur Machen

Source: The White People and Other Stories: The Best Weird Tales of Arthur Machen

“Evolution is, as well as smarter than we are, infinitely more callous and cruel, and also capricious.”

Wells Evolution Smarter Capricious Callous

Book:God is Not Great

Source: God is Not Great

“Societies without a reservoir of people who don't follow the rules lack an important mechanism for societal evolution. Vibrant societies need a dishonest minority; if society makes its dishonest minority too small, it stifles dissent as well as common crime.”

People Ifs Needs Wells Important Politics Common Crime Evolution Minorities Mechanism Dissent Reservoirs

Author:Bruce Schneier

“Darwinian man, though well-behaved, at best is only a monkey shaved.”

Men Wells Evolution Monkeys Evolution Of Man

Book:The Savoy Operas: The Complete Gilbert and Sullivan: The Complete Gilbert and Sullivan

Source: The Savoy Operas: The Complete Gilbert and Sullivan: The Complete Gilbert and Sullivan

“An extra-terrestrial philosopher, who had watched a single youth up to the age of twenty-one and had never come across any other human being, might conclude that it is the nature of human beings to grow continually taller and wiser in an indefinite progress towards perfection; and this generalization would be just as well founded as the generalization which evolutionists base upon the previous history of this planet.”

Source: Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays: Top Philosophy Collections

“Men are impatient, and for precipitating things; but the Author of Nature appears deliberate throughout His operations, accomplishing His natural ends by slow, successive steps. And there is a plan of things beforehand laid out, which, from the nature of it, requires various systems of means, as well as length of time, in order to the carrying on its several parts into execution.”

Men Wells Mean Ends Science Order Nature Natural Steps Plans Evolution Various Operations Length Execution Deliberate Impatient Carrying On

Book:The Analogy of Religion: Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature. To which are Added, Two Brief Dissertations: I. On Personal Identity. II. On the Nature of Virtue. Together with a Charge Delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of Durham, ... in the Year MDCCLI. By Joseph Butler, ... A New Edition, Corrected. With a Preface, ... by Samuel Halifax, ...

Source: The Analogy of Religion: Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature. To which are Added, Two Brief Dissertations: I. On Personal Identity. II. On the Nature of Virtue. Together with a Charge Delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of Durham, ... in the Year MDCCLI. By Joseph Butler, ... A New Edition, Corrected. With a Preface, ... by Samuel Halifax, ...

“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.”

Ifs Thinking World Should Years Wells Stories School Science Community Creation Taught Theory Evolution Biblical Infallible Scientific Theory

Author:Ronald Reagan

“The tragedy of young-earth creationism is that it takes a relatively recent and extreme view of Genesis, applies to it an unjustified scientific gloss, and then asks sincere and well-meaning seekers to swallow this whole, despite the massive discordance with decades of scientific evidence from multiple disciplines. Is it any wonder that many sadly turn away from faith concluding that they cannot believe in a God who asks for an abandonment of logic and reason?”

“Opponents say natural selection is not a theory supported by observation or experiment; that it is not based on fact; and that it cannot be proved. Well, no, you cannot prove the theory to people who won't believe in it any more than you can prove that the Battle of Hastings took place in 1066. However, we know the battle happened then, just as we know the course of evolution on earth unambiguously shows that Darwin was right.”

People Knows Believe Wells Facts Shows Earth Courses Natural Happened Theory Evolution Battle Prove Experiments Observation Opponents Selection Natural Selection

Author:David Attenborough