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Extinction Quotes

Browse 464 quotes about Extinction.

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Extinction Quotes

“[Man] ... his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labour of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins.”

MenHumansWholeFeelingsInspirationAgeScienceUniverseIndividualBeliefGrowthFireGeniusAchievementGravesDevotionRuinsPreservesOutcomesTemplesLabourBuriedIntensityAtomsHeroismDestinedHis LoveExtinctionBrightnessSolar SystemThoughts And FeelingsHopes And FearsIndividual LifeDebrisUnyielding
Book:Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays
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“Amidst the vicissitudes of the earth's surface, species cannot be immortal, but must perish, one after another, like the individuals which compose them. There is no possibility of escaping from this conclusion.”

EarthScienceIndividualPossibilityAccountsSpeciesSurfaceConclusionImmortalExtinctionEscapingVicissitudes
Book:Principles of geology ; or, The modern changes of the earth and its inhabitants considered as illustrative of geology
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“I did say, at Chicago, in my speech there, that I do wish to see the spread of slavery arrested and to see it placed where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction.”

MindCoursesBeliefWishSpeechUltimateSlaverySpreadChicagoExtinctionArrested
Book:The Life and Public Services of Hon. Abraham Lincoln: With a Portrait on Steel. To which is Added a Biographical Sketch of Hon. Hannibal Hamlin
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“In the way our Fathers originally left the slavery question, the institution was in the course of ultimate extinction, and the public mind rested in the belief that it was in the course of ultimate extinction . . . . All I have asked or desired anywhere, is that it should be placed back again upon the basis that the Fathers of our government originally placed it upon.”

WayShouldMindGovernmentCoursesFatherBeliefLeftUltimateBasesInstitutionsSlaveryExtinctionOur FatherBack Again
Book:The Complete Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln (Biographically Annotated Edition)
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“The first "station of separation" corresponds to the state of the ordinary man who perceives the universe as distinct from God. Starting from here, the initiatic itinerary leads the being first to extinction in the divine Unity, which abolishes all perception of created things. But spiritual realization, if it is complete, arrives afterwards at the "second station of separation" where the being perceives simultaneously the one in the multiple and the multiple in the one.”

IfsMenFirstsStatesSpiritualSpiritSpiritualityUniverseDivinePerceptionOrdinaryUnityStartingSeparationRealizationPerceiveStationsMultipleExtinctionAbolishOrdinary Man
Author:Abdelkader El Djezairi
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“The number of people displaced by dams is estimated at between 40 million and 80 million, most of them in China and India. The costs of dams were on average 50% above their original estimate. Some designed to reduce flooding made it worse, and there were many unexpected environmental disadvantages, including the extinction of fish and bird species. Half the world's wetlands had been lost because of dams.”

PeopleWorldMadeLostWaterNumbersHalfMillionsCostBirdIndiaOriginalsSpeciesEnvironmentalIncludingAverageFishesChinaMade ItUnexpectedExtinctionDisadvantagesBiodiversityDamsFloodingChina And IndiaWetlands
Author:Paul Brown
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“Tamed as it may be, sexuality remains one of the demonic forces in human consciousness - pushing us at intervals close to taboo and dangerous desires, which range from the impulse to commit sudden arbitrary violence upon another person to the voluptuous yearning for the extinction of one's consciousness, for death itself. Even on the level of simple physical sensation and mood, making love surely resembles having an epileptic fit at least as much as, if not more than, it does eating a meal or conversing with someone.”

IfsLoveHumansMayPersonsDoeDesireForceSimpleLevelsConsciousnessViolenceDangerousFitEatingRemainsSexualityMoodCommitImpulseRangeMealsPushingSensationsYearningMaking LoveArbitraryExtinctionTabooIntervalsHuman ConsciousnessDemonicTamedVoluptuousEpileptics
Author:Susan Sontag
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“Human use of fossil fuels is altering the chemistry of the atmosphere; oceans are polluted and depleted of fish; 80 per cent of Earth's forests are heavily impacted or gone yet their destruction continues. An estimated 50,000 species are driven to extinction each year. We dump millions of tonnes of chemicals, most untested for their biological effects, and many highly toxic, into air, water and soil. We have created an ecological holocaust. Our very health and survival are at stake, yet we act as if we have plenty of time to respond.”

IfsYearsHumansUseEarthWaterMillionsGoneAirEffectsOceanSurvivalDestructionSpeciesClimate ChangeFishesDrivenForestsPlentyAtmosphereSoilFuelChemistryChemicalsStakesToxicHolocaustCentsFossilsExtinctionFossil FuelEcologicalDump
Author:David Suzuki
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“When the moon shall have faded out from the sky, and the sun shall shine at noonday a dull cherry red, and the seas shall be frozen over, and the icecap shall have crept downward to the equator from either pole . . . when all the cities shall have long been dead and crumbled into dust, and all life shall be on the last verge of extinction on this globe; then, on a bit of lichen, growing on the bald rocks beside the eternal snows of Panama, shall be seated a tiny insect, preening its antennae in the glow of the worn-out sun, the sole survivor of animal life on this our earth - a melancholy bug.”

LifeLongEarthLastsBitsAnimalCitiesSunGrowingSeaSkyRocksMoonEternalRedEternityShiningTinySnowDustDullMelancholySurvivorSoleWornGlobesFrozenInsectsBugsExtinctionFadedCherriesVergeWorn OutAnimal LifePanamaEquator
Author:William Jacob Holland
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“Extinction has only separated groups: it has by no means made them; for if every form which has ever lived on this earth were suddenly to reappear, though it would be quite impossible to give definitions by which each group could be distinguished from other groups, as all would blend together by steps as fine as those between the finest existing varieties, nevertheless a natural classification, or at least a natural arrangement, would be possible.”

IfsGivingMeanMadeWould BeEarthTogetherFormScienceNaturalStepsImpossibleGroupsFineDefinitionsVarietyNeverthelessArrangementsFinestExtinctionDistinguishedClassificationTree Of Life
Book:On the Origin of Species
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“The cold view to take of our future is that we are therefore headed for extinction in a universe of impersonal chemical, physical, and biological laws. A more productive, certainly more engaging view, is that we have the intelligence to grasp what is happening, the composure not to be intimidated by its complexity, and the courage to take steps that may bear no fruit in our lifetimes.”

MayLawUniverseViewsStepsColdBearsHappeningsLifetimeFruitComplexityProductiveOur FutureChemicalsEngagingExtinctionIntimidatedComposure
Author:Barry Lopez
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“We're handing them [young people & future generations] a climate system which is potentially out of their control. We're in an emergency: you can see what's on the horizon over the next few decades with the effects it will have on ecosystems, sea level and species extinction”

PeopleYoungNextLevelsVisionGenerationsSeaEffectsFutureClimateSpeciesDecadesHorizonEmergenciesExtinctionFuture GenerationEcosystemsSustainable DevelopmentSpecies Extinction
Author:James Hansen
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“People, fearing their own extinction, are willing to accept and perpetuate hand-me-down answers to the meaning of life and death; and, fearing a weakening of the tribal structures that sustain them, reinforce with their tales the conventional notions of justice, freedom, law and order, nature, family, etc. The writer, lone rider, has the power, if not always the skills, wisdom, or desire, to disturb this false contentment.”

PeopleIfsHandsLawDesireOrderJusticeAnswersAcceptingWillingSkillsStructureNotionTalesMeaning Of LifeEtcLife And DeathContentmentConventionalExtinctionRidersLaw And OrderLoneWeakening
Author:Robert Coover
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“I just wonder what it would be like to be reincarnated in an animal whose species had been so reduced in numbers than it was in danger of extinction. What would be its feelings toward the human species whose population explosion had denied it somewhere to exist. I must confess that I am tempted to ask for reincarnation as a particularly deadly virus.”

HumansFeelingsWould BeAsksAnimalNumbersWonderDangerSpeciesPopulationNew WorldDeniedReincarnationTemptedExtinctionExplosionsVirusesNew World OrderWorld OrderHuman SpeciesNwoDepopulationPopulation Explosion
Author:Prince Philip
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“We have no ethical obligation to preserve the different breeds of livestock produced through selective breeding One generation and out. We have no problems with the extinction of domestic animals. They are creations of human selective breeding.”

HumansDifferentProblemAnimalGenerationsCreationObligationPreservesEthicalAnimal RightsNo ProblemExtinctionHumaneBreedingSelectivePetaLivestockAnimal Rights ActivistsDifferent AnimalsHumane SocietyAnimal ActivistExtinct AnimalsSelective Breeding
Author:Wayne Pacelle
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“If I had my life to live over again I would not devote it to develop new industrial processes: I would try to add my humble efforts to use Science to the betterment of the human race. I despair of the helter-skelter methods of our vaulted homo sapiens, misguided by his ignorance and his politicians. If we continue our ways, there is every possibility that the human race may follow the road of former living races of animals whose fossils proclaim that they were not fit to continue. Religion, laws and morals is not enough. We need more. Science can help us.”

IfsWayNeedsTryingHumansMayEnoughHelpingUseLawScienceProcessAnimalEffortRaceMoralPossibilityHumilityIgnorancePoliticianFitDespairAccountsMethodAddHumbleFormerHuman RaceFossilsExtinctionHomo SapiensMisguidedBetterment
Author:Leo Baekeland
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“What is your personal carrying capacity for grief, rage, despair? We are living in a period of mass extinction. The numbers stand at 200 species a day. That's 73,000 a year. This culture is oblivious to their passing, feels entitled to their every last niche, and there is no roll call on the nightly news.”

FeelsYearsLastsCultureNumbersGriefPeriodsDespairNewsMassCapacitySpeciesRagePassingPassingsEntitledExtinctionNicheObliviousMass Extinction
Book:Deep Green Resistance: Strategy to Save the Planet
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“We human beings are not only the beneficiaries but also the stewards of other creatures. Thanks to our bodies, God has joined us so closely to the world around us that we can feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical ailment, and the extinction of a species as a painful disfigurement. Let us not leave in our wake a swatch of destruction and death which will affect our own lives and those of future generations.”

WorldFeelsHumansBodyHuman BeingsGenerationsCreaturesDestructionSpeciesPainfulThanksSoilExtinctionFuture GenerationStewardsAilmentsBeneficiariesDisfigurement
Author:Pope Francis
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“Of the four billion life forms which have existed on this planet, three billion, nine hundred and sixty million are now extinct. We don't know why. Some by wanton extinction, some through natural catastrophe, some destroyed by meteorites and asteroids. In the light of these mass extinctions it really does seem unreasonable to suppose that Homo sapiens should be exempt. Our species will have been one of the shortest-lived of all, a mere blink, you may say, in the eye of time.”

KnowsShouldMayDoeHas BeensLightSeemsEyeFormThreeNaturalMillionsFourPlanetsMassHundredMereSpeciesBillionsNineDestroyedSixtyCatastropheExtinctionHomo SapiensUnreasonableBlinkWantonAsteroidsMass Extinction
Book:The Children of Men
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