--- title: "9 Genes Quotes By Lewis Thomas" description: "9 Genes quotes by Lewis Thomas. Plus more from Lewis Thomas and more Genes sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c32/lewis-thomas-2299_education_it-is-in-our-genes-to-understand-the-uni_53507.png" --- > [It is in our genes to understand the universe if we can, to keep trying even if we cannot, and to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-is-in-our-genes-to-understand-the-universe-if-we-can-to-keep/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c32/lewis-thomas-2299_education_it-is-in-our-genes-to-understand-the-uni_53507.png) > [Animals have genes for altruism, and those genes have been selected in the evolution of many creatures because of the advantage they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/animals-have-genes-for-altruism-and-those-genes-have-been-selected-in/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f5/lewis-thomas-2299_advantage_animals-have-genes-for-altruism-and-thos_2628296.png) > [We are a spectacular, splendid manifestation of life. We have language. . . . We have affection. We have genes for usefulness,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-are-a-spectacular-splendid-manifestation-of-life-we-have-language/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/040/lewis-thomas-2299_affection_we-are-a-spectacular-splendid-manifestat_7241.png) > [It is from the progeny of this parent cell that we all take our looks; we still share genes around, and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-is-from-the-progeny-of-this-parent-cell-that-we-all-take-our-looks/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/863/lewis-thomas-2299_family_it-is-from-the-progeny-of-this-parent-ce_2345327.png) > [Survival, in the cool economics of biology, means simply the persistence of one's own genes in the generations to follow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/survival-in-the-cool-economics-of-biology-means-simply-the/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/391/lewis-thomas-2299_biology_survival-in-the-cool-economics-of-biolog_812393.png) > [The drive to be useful is encoded in our genes. But when we gather in very large numbers, as in the modern…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/the-drive-to-be-useful-is-encoded-in-our-genes-but-when-we-gather-in/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5c/lewis-thomas-2299_alive_the-drive-to-be-useful-is-encoded-in-our_140276.png) > [“The uniformity of the earth's life, more astonishing than its diversity, is accountable by the high probability that we derived, originally, from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/the-uniformity-of-the-earth-s-life-more-astonishing-than-its/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b95/lewis-thomas-2299_astonishing_the-uniformity-of-the-earth-s-life-more_210829.png) > [We live in a dancing matrix of viruses; they dart, rather like bees, from organism to organism, from plant to insect to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-live-in-a-dancing-matrix-of-viruses-they-dart-rather-like-bees/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70f/lewis-thomas-2299_bees_we-live-in-a-dancing-matrix-of-viruses-t_2188031.png) > [I maintain, despite the moment's evidence against the claim, that we are born and grow up with a fondness for each other,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/i-maintain-despite-the-moment-s-evidence-against-the-claim-that-we/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e5/lewis-thomas-2299_affair_i-maintain-despite-the-moment-s-evidence_1038789.png) ## Other authors on Genes ## More by Lewis Thomas > [“We are endowed with genes which code out our reaction to beavers and otters, maybe our reaction to each other as well. We are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-are-endowed-with-genes-which-code-out-our-reaction-to-beavers-and/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [We are a spectacular, splendid manifestation of life. We have language. . . . We have affection. We have genes for usefulness, and usefulness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-are-a-spectacular-splendid-manifestation-of-life-we-have-language/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“It is not a simple thing to decide where we fit, for at one time or another in our lives we manage to organize…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-is-not-a-simple-thing-to-decide-where-we-fit-for-at-one-time-or/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [It is in our genes to understand the universe if we can, to keep trying even if we cannot, and to be enchanted by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-is-in-our-genes-to-understand-the-universe-if-we-can-to-keep/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [If an idea cannot move on its own, pushing it doesn't help; best to let it lie there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/if-an-idea-cannot-move-on-its-own-pushing-it-doesn-t-help-best-to-let/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [Left to ourselves, mechanistic and autonomic, we hanker for friends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/left-to-ourselves-mechanistic-and-autonomic-we-hanker-for-friends/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [I do not agree with this century's fashion of running down the human species as a failed try, a doomed sport. At our worst,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/i-do-not-agree-with-this-century-s-fashion-of-running-down-the-human/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [It would seem to me... an offense against nature, for us to come on the same scene endowed as we are with the curiosity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-would-seem-to-me-an-offense-against-nature-for-us-to-come-on-the/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [The drive to be useful is encoded in our genes. But when we gather in very large numbers, as in the modern nation-state, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/the-drive-to-be-useful-is-encoded-in-our-genes-but-when-we-gather-in/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [I would send the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach into outer space on the Voyager spacecraft. But that would be boasting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/i-would-send-the-complete-works-of-johann-sebastian-bach-into-outer/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“Nature abhors a long silence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/nature-abhors-a-long-silence/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“The future is too interesting and dangerous to be entrusted to any predictable, reliable agency. We need all the fallibility we can get. Most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/the-future-is-too-interesting-and-dangerous-to-be-entrusted-to-any/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [We pass the word around; we ponder how the case is put by different people, we read the poetry; we meditate over the literature;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-pass-the-word-around-we-ponder-how-the-case-is-put-by-different/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“The uniformity of the earth's life, more astonishing than its diversity, is accountable by the high probability that we derived, originally, from some single…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/the-uniformity-of-the-earth-s-life-more-astonishing-than-its/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [Having long suspected that there was something alive in there, running the place, separate from everything else, absolutely individual and independent, we've celebrated by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/having-long-suspected-that-there-was-something-alive-in-there-running/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/genes/lewis-thomas/#itemlist", "name": "9 Genes Quotes By Lewis Thomas", "numberOfItems": 9, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is in our genes to understand the universe if we can, to keep trying even if we cannot, and to be enchanted by the act of learning all the way.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lewis Thomas" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-is-in-our-genes-to-understand-the-universe-if-we-can-to-keep/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c32/lewis-thomas-2299_education_it-is-in-our-genes-to-understand-the-uni_53507.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c32/lewis-thomas-2299_education_it-is-in-our-genes-to-understand-the-uni_53507.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c32/lewis-thomas-2299_education_it-is-in-our-genes-to-understand-the-uni_53507.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is in our genes to understand the universe if we can, to keep trying even if we cannot, and to be…” — Lewis Thomas", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Animals have genes for altruism, and those genes have been selected in the evolution of many creatures because of the advantage they confer for the continuing survival of the species.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lewis Thomas" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/animals-have-genes-for-altruism-and-those-genes-have-been-selected-in/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f5/lewis-thomas-2299_advantage_animals-have-genes-for-altruism-and-thos_2628296.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f5/lewis-thomas-2299_advantage_animals-have-genes-for-altruism-and-thos_2628296.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f5/lewis-thomas-2299_advantage_animals-have-genes-for-altruism-and-thos_2628296.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Animals have genes for altruism, and those genes have been selected in the evolution of many creatures…” — Lewis Thomas", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We are a spectacular, splendid manifestation of life. 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But when we gather in very large numbers, as in the modern nation-state, we seem capable of levels of folly and self-destruction to be found nowhere else in all of nature. But if we keep at it and keep alive, we are in for one surprise after another. 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