“Trilobites survived for a total of three hundred million years, almost the whole duration of the Palaeozoic era: who are we johnny-come-latelies to label them as either ‘primitive’ or ‘unsuccessful’? Men have so far survived half a per cent as… — Richard Fortey Copy Share Image
“Every new discovery about the genome is consistent with evolution having happened. Whether we find it appealing or not is another question, but personally… — Richard Fortey Copy Share
“Without death there is little innovation. Extinction - death of a species - is part and parcel of evolutionary change. In the absence of… — Richard Fortey Copy Share
“But, for now, I retreated back down the little hidden staircase into the familiar world of the basement of the Natural History Museum, and… — Richard Fortey Copy Share
The great proliferation of museums in the nineteenth century was a product of the marriage of the exhibition as a way of awakening intelligent… — Richard Fortey Copy Share
“Whether we find it appealing or not is another question, but personally I like being fourth cousin to a mushroom and having a bonobo… — Richard Fortey Copy Share
“There is no final truth in palaeontology. Every new observer brings something of his or her own: a new technique, a new intelligence, even… — Richard Fortey Copy Share
I believe profoundly in the importance of museums; I would go as far as to say that you can judge a society by the… — Richard Fortey Copy Share
“Mankind is nothing more than a parasitic tick gorging himself on temporary plenty while the seas are low and the climate is clement. But… — Richard Fortey Copy Share
“I attempted in vain to calculate the size of the holdings on the shelves, floor on floor, only to boggle hopelessly, baffled by bibliographic… — Richard Fortey Copy Share
I wonder if we are seeing a return to the object in the science-based museum. Since any visitor can go to a film like… — Richard Fortey Copy Share
A life accumulates a collection: of people, work and perplexities. We are all our own curators. — Richard Fortey Copy Share
“When I meet some of my commuting acquaintances on the 6.21 home to Henley-on-Thames they occasionally enquire what I have done that day. I… — Richard Fortey Copy Share
“Trilobites survived for a total of three hundred million years, almost the whole duration of the Palaeozoic era: who are we johnny-come-latelies to label… — Richard Fortey Copy Share
“There might be symphonies of perfume, Mozarts of musk. Novelists might construct nasal narratives, versifiers sonnets of scent. Sculpture would entail subtleties of shape… — Richard Fortey Copy Share
“In the Spirit Building there are thousands upon thousands of jars containing fish or snake, octopus or lobster, pickled to the life. ... As… — Richard Fortey Copy Share
