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Parasites Quotes

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Parasites Quotes

“Parasites are not only incredibly diverse; they are also incredibly successful. There are parasitic stretches of DNA in your own genes, some of which are called retrotransposons. Many of the parasitic stretches were originally viruses that entered our DNA. Most of them don't do us any harm. They just copy and insert themselves in other parts of our DNA, basically replicating themselves. Sometimes they hop into other species and replicate themselves in a new host. According to one estimate, roughly one-third to one-half of all human DNA is basically parasitic.”

HumansSometimesHalfSuccessfulThirdsSpeciesHarmHopsCopiesHostGenesDiverseDnaVirusesParasitesOne HalfInsertReplicate
Author:Carl Zimmer
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“All over East Africa-indeed, all over Africa-it is normal for people to walk a kilometer or two or six for water. In more arid areas, people walk even greater distances, and sometimes all they find at the end is a pond slimy with overuse. More than 90 percent of Africans still dig for their water, and waterborne diseases such as typhoid, dysentery, bilharzia, and cholera are common. The bodies of many Africans are a stew of parasites. In some areas the wells are so far below the earth's surface that chains of people are required to pass up the water.”

PeopleWellsStillsTwoEndsSometimesBodyEarthWaterWalksCommonGreaterDiseaseNormalSixPercentAreasDistanceEnvironmentalSurfaceEastChainsPondsParasitesStewCholeraEast AfricaTyphoidDysentery
Author:Marq de Villiers
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“We have reached a point where the value we do add to our economy is now being outweighed by the value we are removing, not only from future generations in terms of diminished resources, but from ourselves in terms of unlivable cities, deadening jobs, deteriorating health, and rising crime. In biological terms, we have become a parasite and are devouring our host.”

JobsValuesTermCitiesEconomyGenerationsCrimeResourcesAddEnvironmentalRisingHostSustainabilityFuture GenerationParasitesDevouringDeteriorating
Author:Paul Hawken
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“I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.”

PeopleThinkingNeedsFirstsTwoEnoughShowsBigsGovernmentCoursesGrowsLibertyEnemyLaborConstitutionCriminalsVersionsChainsTiesMachineryLiving OnDecreaseParasitesIndustrious
Author:Thomas Jefferson
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“In the dream of approaching forty I saw myself as about to die and realized that I was no longer myself, but a creature inhabited entirely by parasites, as a caterpillar is occupied by the grubs of the ichneumon fly. Gin, whisky, sloth, fear, guilt, tobacco, had made themselves my inquilines; alcohol sloshed about within, while tendrils of melon and vine grew out of ears and nostrils; my mind was a worn gramophone record, my true self was such a ruin as to seem non-existent, and all this had happened in the last three years.”

YearsMindMadeSelfDreamSeemsLastsDiesThreeRecordsSawsHappenedGrewCreaturesEarsGuiltAlcoholRuinsFortyThree YearsWornTrue SelfTobaccoVinesSlothParasitesGinCaterpillarsWhiskyMelons
Author:Cyril Connolly
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“So-called 'higher education' is a veritable magnet for second-raters and actively destructive parasites bent on promoting unsound ideas to the inexperienced and gullible. The concentrate in areas like social studies, literature, and art - where opinion reigns supreme. And I find their opinions almost universally appalling.”

ArtIdeasLiteratureSocialOpinionStudyHigherAreasSupremeDestructiveReignBentPromotingMagnetSocial StudiesHigher EducationParasitesGullibleLiterature And Art
Author:Doug Casey
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“Yes, Boss?' Dorcas, the last twenty or thirty years I've been a worthless, no-good parasite.' She yawned again. 'Everybody knows that.' Nevermind the flattery. There comes a time in every man's life when he has to stop being sensible--a time to stand up and be counted--strike a blow for liberty--smite the wicked.' Ummm...' So quit yawning, the time has come.' She glanced down. 'Maybe I had better get dressed.”

KnowsMenYearsLastsLibertyTwentiesBlowStrikesQuittingEvery ManThirtyWickedBossSensibleWorthlessFlatteryThirty YearsParasitesThere Comes A TimeYawningNevermind
Book:Stranger in a Strange Land
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“Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.”

WayLifeTryingSuccessChoicesParentBornRoomsEducationResponsibilityGenerationsListeningClothesRainBillsBoringForestsBoredClosetsCleaningParasitesBills To Pay
Author:Bill Gates
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“You see, cuckoos are parasites. They lay their eggs in other birds' nests. When the egg hatches, the baby cuckoo pushes the other baby birds out of the nest. The poor parent birds work themselves to death trying to find enough food to feed the enormous cuckoo child who has murdered their babies and taken their places." "Enormous?" said Jace. "Did you just call me fat?" "It was an analogy." "I am not fat.”

TryingChildrenSaidEnoughParentPoorTakenBabyBirdLaysEnormousFatsEggsCall MeJaceNestsAnalogiesParasitesCity Of Fallen AngelsCuckoosCity Of Ashes
Book:City of Ashes
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“You had no right to be born; for you make no use of life. Instead of living for, in, and with yourself, as a reasonable being ought, you seek only to fasten your feebleness on some other person's strength.”

PersonsUseBornOughtReasonableParasites
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“He knew that all things human are transitory and therefore that it must cease one day or another. He looked forward to that day with eager longing. Love was like a parasite in his heart, nourishing a hateful existence on his life's blood; it absorbed his existence so intensely that he could take pleasure in nothing else.”

HumansHeartPleasureExistenceBloodOne DayAll ThingsLongingCeaseHatefulParasitesTransitory
Book:Of Human Bondage (Diversion Classics)
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“There's so much humanity in a love of trees, so much nostalgia for our first sense of wonder, so much power in just feeling our own insignificance when we are surrounded by nature...yes, that's it: just thinking about trees and their indifferent majesty and our love for them teaches us how ridiculous we are - vile parasites squirming on the surface of the earth - and at the same time how deserving of life we can be, when we can honor this beauty that owes us nothing.”

ThinkingFirstsFeelingsEarthHumanityWonderTeachTreeHonorSurfaceNostalgiaRidiculousIndifferentOur LoveMajestyDeservingParasitesSense Of WonderInsignificance
Author:Muriel Barbery
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“To say ‘I love you’ one must first know how to say the ‘I.’ The meaning of the ‘I’ is an independent, self-sufficient entity that does not exist for the sake of any other person. A person who exists only for the sake of his loved one is not an independent entity, but a spiritual parasite. The love of a parasite is worth nothing.”

KnowsFirstsPersonsDoeSelfSpiritualKnow HowLove YouIndependentSakeSufficientLoved OnesEntityI Love YouParasitesSay I Love YouSelf SufficientWise Women
Author:Ayn Rand
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