“Genes are biochemical recipes written in a four-letter alphabet called DNA.” — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
Considering the way evolution works, it should not be surprising if every man has got a Don Giovanni somewhere inside him. — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
At some point, human intelligence became collective and cumulative in a way that happened to no other animal. — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
“The genome that we decipher in this generation is but a snapshot of an ever-changing document. There is no definitive edition.” — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
Our minds have been built by selfish genes, but they have been built to be social, trustworthy and cooperative. — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
The genome is a book that wrote itself, continually adding, deleting and amending over four billion years. — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
“If you think being descended from apes is bad for your self esteem, then get used to the idea that you are… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
Society works not because we have consciously invented it, but because it is an ancient product of our evolved predispositions. It is… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
The interaction of genetic and external influences makes my behaviour unpredictable, but not undetermined. In the gap between those words lies freedom. — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
“What is truly revolutionary about molecular biology in the post-Watson-Crick era is that it has become digital...the machine code of the genes… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
“It is pure fatalism, undiluted by environmental variability. Good living, good medicine, healthy food, loving families or great riches can do nothing… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
It is the assumption of this book that there is a typical human nature. It is the aim of this book to… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
“The idea that we were designed by our past was the principal insight of Charles Darwin. He was the first to realize… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
I felt cheated by the way grown-ups told me that the future of the world was bleak when I became a teenager in the… — Matt Ridley Copy Share
“If you attend a meeting of evolutionary biologists somewhere in America, you might be lucky and spot a tall, gray-whiskered, smiling man bearing a… — Matt Ridley Copy Share
“Merchants and craftsmen make prosperity; chiefs, priests and thieves fritter it away.” — Matt Ridley Copy Share
At some point, human intelligence became collective and cumulative in a way that happened to no other animal. — Matt Ridley Copy Share
We consciously decide whether to consider people; we fall in love despite ourselves; we entirely fail to fall in love with people who fall… — Matt Ridley Copy Share
It's terrifying the way molecular biology has become more and more jargon ridden. But I strongly believe that my book can be read by… — Matt Ridley Copy Share
“The gene contains a single 'word', repeated over and over again: CAG, CAG, CAG, CAG ... The repetition continues sometimes just six times, sometimes… — Matt Ridley Copy Share
“If you think being descended from apes is bad for your self esteem, then get used to the idea that you are also descended… — Matt Ridley Copy Share
Government can encourage innovation, but mainly by doing less, not doing more. — Matt Ridley Copy Share
Note even Jonathan Swift would dare to write a satire in which politicians argued that - in a world where species are vanishing and… — Matt Ridley Copy Share
The evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in 1976 coined the term ‘meme’ for a unit of cultural imitation. — Matt Ridley Copy Share
This idea holds out hope that the human race will prosper mightily in the years ahead-because ideas are having sex with each other as… — Matt Ridley Copy Share
“Well, in OUR country,’ said Alice, still panting a little, ‘you’d generally get to somewhere else—if you ran very fast for a long time,… — Matt Ridley Copy Share
“Far from being choosy, female primates seemed to be initiators of much promiscuity. Hrdy began to suggest that there was something wrong with the… — Matt Ridley Copy Share
Every minute, every second, the pattern of genes being expressed in your brain changes, often in direct or indirect response to events outside the… — Matt Ridley Copy Share
