Zoocentrism is the primary fallacy of human sociobiology, for this view of human behavior rests on the argument that if the actions… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
I believe that we can still have a genre of scientific books suitable for and accessible alike to professionals and interested laypeople.… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
But if we laugh with derision, we will never understand. Human intellectual capacity has not altered for thousands of years so far… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
We debase the richness of both nature and our own minds if we view the great pageant of our intellectual history as… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
Orchids manufacture their intricate devices from the common components of ordinary flowers, parts usually fitted for very different functions. If God had… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
Some beliefs may be subject to such instant, brutal and unambiguous rejection. For example: no left-coiling periwinkle has ever been found among… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
Speciation does not necessarily promote evolutionary change; rather, speciation 'gathers in' and guards evolutionary change by locking and stabilization for sufficient geological… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
If there is any consistent enemy of science, it is not religion, but irrationalism. — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
We may need simple and heroic legends for that peculiar genre of literature known as the textbook. But historians must also labor… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
If we make this readjustment to view Homo sapiens as an ultimate in oddball rarity, and life at bacterial grade as the… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
Organisms [...] are directed and limited by their past. They must remain imperfect in their form and function, and to that extent… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
Results rarely specify their causes unambiguously. If we have no direct evidence of fossils or human chronicles, if we are forced to… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
True majorities, in a TV-dominated and anti-intellectual age, may need sound bites and flashing lights and I am not against supplying such… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
Darwinian evolution may be the most truthful and powerful idea ever generated by Western Science, but if we continue to illustrate our… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
If a man dies of cancer in fear and despair, then cry for his pain and celebrate his life. The other man,… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
Humans are not the end result of predictable evolutionary progress, but rather a fortuitous cosmic afterthought, a tiny little twig on the… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
If we are still here to witness the destruction of our planet some five billion years or more hence, then we will… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
Since the universe must contain millions of appropriate planets, consciousness in some form - but not with the paired eyes and limbs,… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
If any issue should unite liberals and conservatives, anyone who cares about the integrity of human achievement or respect for human accomplishment,… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
If I have any insight at all to contribute it is this: find out what you are really good at and stick… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
The only universal attribute of scientific statements resides in their potential fallibility. If a claim cannot be disproven, it does not belong… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
Details are all that matters; God dwells in these and you never get to see Him if you don't struggle to get… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
[T]ruly grand and powerful theories [...] do not and cannot rest upon single observations. Evolution is an inference from thousands of independent… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
[E]volutionists sometimes take as haughty an attitude toward the next level up the conventional ladder of disciplines: the human sciences. They decry… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
If new species arise very rapidly in small, peripherally isolated local populations, then the great expectation of insensibly graded fossil sequences is… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
I strongly reject any conceptual scheme that places our options on a line, and holds that the only alternative to a pair of extreme… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
History employs evolution to structure biological events in time. — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
In his anti-Darwinian book... (and eponymously named The Neck of the Giraffe ), Francis Hitching tells the story... "The need to survive by reaching… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
... many folks take them seriously because they just 'know' that evolution can never be seen in the immediate here and now. In fact,… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
Charles Darwin viewed the fossil record more as an embarrassment than as an aid to his theory ... — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
Zoocentrism is the primary fallacy of human sociobiology, for this view of human behavior rests on the argument that if the actions of "lower"… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
The world, unfortunately, rarely matches our hopes and consistently refuses to behave in a reasonable manner. — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
The true beauty of nature is her amplitude; she exists neither for nor because of us, and possesses a staying power that all our… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
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… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
When scientists need to explain difficult points of theory, illustration by hypothetical example - rather than by total abstraction - works well (perhaps indispensably)… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
The truly awesome intellectuals in our history have not merely made discoveries; they have woven variegated, but firm, tapestries of comprehensive coverage. The tapestries… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
I believe that we can still have a genre of scientific books suitable for and accessible alike to professionals and interested laypeople. The concepts… — Stephen Jay Gould Copy Share Image
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![“[T]ruly grand and powerful theories [...] do not and cannot…” quote by Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/1aa/stephen-jay-gould-885_bankruptcy_t-ruly-grand-and-powerful-theories-do-no_1770112.jpg)
![“[E]volutionists sometimes take as haughty an attitude toward the next…” quote by Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/6a8/stephen-jay-gould-885_animal_e-volutionists-sometimes-take-as-haughty_1877088.jpg)
