--- title: "8 Creatures Quotes By Stephen Jay Gould" description: "8 Creatures quotes by Stephen Jay Gould. Plus more from Stephen Jay Gould and more Creatures sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6b/stephen-jay-gould-885_creatures_science-can-t-tell-us-what-our-life-mean_810494.png" --- > [Science can't tell us what our life means ethically. It can't tell us what we are meant to do as moral creatures.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/science-can-t-tell-us-what-our-life-means-ethically-it-can-t-tell-us/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6b/stephen-jay-gould-885_creatures_science-can-t-tell-us-what-our-life-mean_810494.png) > [Most impediments to scientific understanding are conceptual locks, not factual lacks. Most difficult to dislodge are those biases that escape our scrutiny…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/most-impediments-to-scientific-understanding-are-conceptual-locks-not/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/974/stephen-jay-gould-885_arrangements_most-impediments-to-scientific-understan_873838.jpg) > [Very little comes easily to our poor, benighted species (the first creature, after all, to experiment with the novel evolutionary inventions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/very-little-comes-easily-to-our-poor-benighted-species-the-first/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a7/stephen-jay-gould-885_accurate_very-little-comes-easily-to-our-poor-ben_910502.jpg) > [Natural selection is just three factors - over-production, variation, and inheritance combined to produce adaptation to changing local environments. It's not a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/natural-selection-is-just-three-factors-over-production-variation-and/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ee/stephen-jay-gould-885_adaptation_natural-selection-is-just-three-factors_1083367.png) > [The human mind delights in finding pattern—so much so that we often mistake coincidence or forced analogy for profound meaning. No other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/the-human-mind-delights-in-finding-pattern-so-much-so-that-we-often/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c2/stephen-jay-gould-885_analogies_the-human-mind-delights-in-finding-patte_1500957.jpg) > [I am glad that the life of pandas is so dull by human standards, for our efforts at conservation have little moral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/i-am-glad-that-the-life-of-pandas-is-so-dull-by-human-standards-for/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cb/stephen-jay-gould-885_animal_i-am-glad-that-the-life-of-pandas-is-so_2829582.png) > [The classical argument for why a supposedly decent and moral creature like Homo sapiens can mistreat and even extirpate other species rests…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/the-classical-argument-for-why-a-supposedly-decent-and-moral-creature/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ba/stephen-jay-gould-885_animal_the-classical-argument-for-why-a-suppose_3117068.jpg) > [We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/we-are-here-because-one-odd-group-of-fishes-had-a-peculiar-fin/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a5f/stephen-jay-gould-885_age_we-are-here-because-one-odd-group-of-fis_3232685.png) ## Other authors on Creatures ## More by Stephen Jay Gould > [I strongly reject any conceptual scheme that places our options on a line, and holds that the only alternative to a pair of extreme…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/i-strongly-reject-any-conceptual-scheme-that-places-our-options-on-a/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [History employs evolution to structure biological events in time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/history-employs-evolution-to-structure-biological-events-in-time/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [In his anti-Darwinian book... (and eponymously named The Neck of the Giraffe ), Francis Hitching tells the story... "The need to survive by reaching…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/in-his-anti-darwinian-book-and-eponymously-named-the-neck-of-the/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [... many folks take them seriously because they just 'know' that evolution can never be seen in the immediate here and now. In fact,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/many-folks-take-them-seriously-because-they-just-know-that-evolution/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [Charles Darwin viewed the fossil record more as an embarrassment than as an aid to his theory ...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/charles-darwin-viewed-the-fossil-record-more-as-an-embarrassment-than/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [Zoocentrism is the primary fallacy of human sociobiology, for this view of human behavior rests on the argument that if the actions of "lower"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/zoocentrism-is-the-primary-fallacy-of-human-sociobiology-for-this/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [The world, unfortunately, rarely matches our hopes and consistently refuses to behave in a reasonable manner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/the-world-unfortunately-rarely-matches-our-hopes-and-consistently/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [The true beauty of nature is her amplitude; she exists neither for nor because of us, and possesses a staying power that all our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/the-true-beauty-of-nature-is-her-amplitude-she-exists-neither-for-nor/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [With copious evidence ranging from Plato's haughtiness to Beethoven's tirades, we may conclude that the most brilliant people of history tend to be a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/with-copious-evidence-ranging-from-plato-s-haughtiness-to-beethoven-s/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [When scientists need to explain difficult points of theory, illustration by hypothetical example - rather than by total abstraction - works well (perhaps indispensably)…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/when-scientists-need-to-explain-difficult-points-of-theory/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [The truly awesome intellectuals in our history have not merely made discoveries; they have woven variegated, but firm, tapestries of comprehensive coverage. The tapestries…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/the-truly-awesome-intellectuals-in-our-history-have-not-merely-made/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [I believe that we can still have a genre of scientific books suitable for and accessible alike to professionals and interested laypeople. The concepts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/i-believe-that-we-can-still-have-a-genre-of-scientific-books-suitable/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [Science simply cannot adjudicate the issue of God's possible superintendence of nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/science-simply-cannot-adjudicate-the-issue-of-god-s-possible/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [But if we laugh with derision, we will never understand. Human intellectual capacity has not altered for thousands of years so far as we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/but-if-we-laugh-with-derision-we-will-never-understand-human/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [We debase the richness of both nature and our own minds if we view the great pageant of our intellectual history as a compendium…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/we-debase-the-richness-of-both-nature-and-our-own-minds-if-we-view/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creatures/stephen-jay-gould/#itemlist", "name": "8 Creatures Quotes By Stephen Jay Gould", "numberOfItems": 8, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Science can't tell us what our life means ethically. It can't tell us what we are meant to do as moral creatures. But, insofar as science can understand what we're made of, and what we're related to, the Darwinian revolution completely revised our ideas about who we are and what we're related to and how long we've been here and why we're on this Earth.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Stephen Jay Gould" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/science-can-t-tell-us-what-our-life-means-ethically-it-can-t-tell-us/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6b/stephen-jay-gould-885_creatures_science-can-t-tell-us-what-our-life-mean_810494.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6b/stephen-jay-gould-885_creatures_science-can-t-tell-us-what-our-life-mean_810494.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6b/stephen-jay-gould-885_creatures_science-can-t-tell-us-what-our-life-mean_810494.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Science can't tell us what our life means ethically. 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( Aristotle , and nearly two millennia of successors, designated the large bee that leads the swarm as a king.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Stephen Jay Gould" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/most-impediments-to-scientific-understanding-are-conceptual-locks-not/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/974/stephen-jay-gould-885_arrangements_most-impediments-to-scientific-understan_873838.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/974/stephen-jay-gould-885_arrangements_most-impediments-to-scientific-understan_873838.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/974/stephen-jay-gould-885_arrangements_most-impediments-to-scientific-understan_873838.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Most impediments to scientific understanding are conceptual locks, not factual lacks. 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Solutions must therefore arise within a social context and record the complex interactions of mind and environment that define the possibility of human improvement.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Stephen Jay Gould" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/very-little-comes-easily-to-our-poor-benighted-species-the-first/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a7/stephen-jay-gould-885_accurate_very-little-comes-easily-to-our-poor-ben_910502.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a7/stephen-jay-gould-885_accurate_very-little-comes-easily-to-our-poor-ben_910502.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a7/stephen-jay-gould-885_accurate_very-little-comes-easily-to-our-poor-ben_910502.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Very little comes easily to our poor, benighted species (the first creature, after all, to experiment with…” — Stephen Jay Gould", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Natural selection is just three factors - over-production, variation, and inheritance combined to produce adaptation to changing local environments. It's not a principle or progress; it's just a principle of local adaptation. You don't make better creatures in any cosmic sense; you make creatures that are better suited to the changing climates of their local habitats.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Stephen Jay Gould" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/natural-selection-is-just-three-factors-over-production-variation-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ee/stephen-jay-gould-885_adaptation_natural-selection-is-just-three-factors_1083367.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ee/stephen-jay-gould-885_adaptation_natural-selection-is-just-three-factors_1083367.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ee/stephen-jay-gould-885_adaptation_natural-selection-is-just-three-factors_1083367.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Natural selection is just three factors - over-production, variation, and inheritance combined to produce…” — Stephen Jay Gould", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The human mind delights in finding pattern—so much so that we often mistake coincidence or forced analogy for profound meaning. No other habit of thought lies so deeply within the soul of a small creature trying to make sense of a complex world not constructed for it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Stephen Jay Gould" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/the-human-mind-delights-in-finding-pattern-so-much-so-that-we-often/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c2/stephen-jay-gould-885_analogies_the-human-mind-delights-in-finding-patte_1500957.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c2/stephen-jay-gould-885_analogies_the-human-mind-delights-in-finding-patte_1500957.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c2/stephen-jay-gould-885_analogies_the-human-mind-delights-in-finding-patte_1500957.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The human mind delights in finding pattern—so much so that we often mistake coincidence or forced analogy…” — Stephen Jay Gould", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I am glad that the life of pandas is so dull by human standards, for our efforts at conservation have little moral value if we preserve creatures only as human ornaments; I shall be impressed when we show solicitude for warty toads and slithering worms.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Stephen Jay Gould" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/i-am-glad-that-the-life-of-pandas-is-so-dull-by-human-standards-for/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cb/stephen-jay-gould-885_animal_i-am-glad-that-the-life-of-pandas-is-so_2829582.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cb/stephen-jay-gould-885_animal_i-am-glad-that-the-life-of-pandas-is-so_2829582.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cb/stephen-jay-gould-885_animal_i-am-glad-that-the-life-of-pandas-is-so_2829582.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I am glad that the life of pandas is so dull by human standards, for our efforts at conservation have little…” — Stephen Jay Gould", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The classical argument for why a supposedly decent and moral creature like Homo sapiens can mistreat and even extirpate other species rests upon an extreme position in a continuum. The Cartesian tradition, formulated explicitly in the seventeenth century, but developed in \"folk\" and other versions throughout human history no doubt, holds that other animals are little more than unfeeling machines, with only humans enjoying \"consciousness,\" however defined.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Stephen Jay Gould" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/the-classical-argument-for-why-a-supposedly-decent-and-moral-creature/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ba/stephen-jay-gould-885_animal_the-classical-argument-for-why-a-suppose_3117068.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ba/stephen-jay-gould-885_animal_the-classical-argument-for-why-a-suppose_3117068.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ba/stephen-jay-gould-885_animal_the-classical-argument-for-why-a-suppose_3117068.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The classical argument for why a supposedly decent and moral creature like Homo sapiens can mistreat and…” — Stephen Jay Gould", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures; because the earth never froze entirely during an ice age; because a small and tenuous species, arising in Africa a quarter of a million years ago, has managed, so far, to survive by hook and by crook. We may yearn for a ‘higher answer’– but none exists", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Stephen Jay Gould" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/we-are-here-because-one-odd-group-of-fishes-had-a-peculiar-fin/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a5f/stephen-jay-gould-885_age_we-are-here-because-one-odd-group-of-fis_3232685.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a5f/stephen-jay-gould-885_age_we-are-here-because-one-odd-group-of-fis_3232685.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a5f/stephen-jay-gould-885_age_we-are-here-because-one-odd-group-of-fis_3232685.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for…” — Stephen Jay Gould", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creatures/stephen-jay-gould/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creatures/stephen-jay-gould/", "name": "Creatures Quotes by Stephen Jay Gould", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creatures/stephen-jay-gould/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6b/stephen-jay-gould-885_creatures_science-can-t-tell-us-what-our-life-mean_810494.png" }, "description": "8 Creatures quotes by Stephen Jay Gould. 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