--- title: "1 Living Entity Quotes By Peter Atkins" description: "1 Living Entity quotes by Peter Atkins. Plus more from Peter Atkins and more Living Entity sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/378/peter-atkins-28218_biology_life-is-easy-to-identify-but-remarkably_1160917.jpg" --- > [“Life is easy to identify but remarkably difficult to define. Too tight a definition excludes what looks like life and too loose captures too much. The capacity to self-replicate is a component of the definition, but not without its problems,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-atkins/life-is-easy-to-identify-but-remarkably-difficult-to-define-too-tight/) [Peter Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-atkins/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/378/peter-atkins-28218_biology_life-is-easy-to-identify-but-remarkably_1160917.jpg) ## More by Peter Atkins > [“Laugh. We’re all going to be dead anyway some day. So while you should try your hardest to make the most of your life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-atkins/laugh-we-re-all-going-to-be-dead-anyway-some-day-so-while-you-should/) [Peter Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-atkins/) > [“I try to put things into two buckets: one I can do something about and one I can’t. The things I can’t do anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-atkins/i-try-to-put-things-into-two-buckets-one-i-can-do-something-about-and/) [Peter Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-atkins/) > [Truth is not arrived at by majority vote.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-atkins/truth-is-not-arrived-at-by-majority-vote/) [Peter Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-atkins/) > [We are children of chaos, and the deep structure of change is decay. At root, there is only corruption, and the unstemmable tide of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-atkins/we-are-children-of-chaos-and-the-deep-structure-of-change-is-decay-at/) [Peter Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-atkins/) > [“When asked by Rod Liddle in the documentary The Trouble with Atheism "Give me your views on the existence, or otherwise, of God",Peter Atkins…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-atkins/when-asked-by-rod-liddle-in-the-documentary-the-trouble-with-atheism/) [Peter Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-atkins/) > [“With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die. - Abraham Lincoln”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-atkins/with-the-fearful-strain-that-is-on-me-night-and-day-if-i-did-not/) [Peter Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-atkins/) > [A great deal of the universe does not need any explanation. Elephants, for instance. Once molecules have learnt to compete and to create other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-atkins/a-great-deal-of-the-universe-does-not-need-any-explanation-elephants/) [Peter Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-atkins/) > [Chemistry begins in the stars. The stars are the source of the chemical elements, which are the building blocks of matter and the core…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-atkins/chemistry-begins-in-the-stars-the-stars-are-the-source-of-the/) [Peter Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-atkins/) > [The emergence of consciousness, like the unfolding of a leaf, relies upon restraint.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-atkins/the-emergence-of-consciousness-like-the-unfolding-of-a-leaf-relies/) [Peter Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-atkins/) > [“All change...arises from an underlying collapse into chaos...what may appear to us to be motive and purpose is in fact ultimately motiveless, purposeless decay.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-atkins/all-change-arises-from-an-underlying-collapse-into-chaos-what-may/) [Peter Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-atkins/) > [“Life is easy to identify but remarkably difficult to define. Too tight a definition excludes what looks like life and too loose captures too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-atkins/life-is-easy-to-identify-but-remarkably-difficult-to-define-too-tight/) [Peter Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-atkins/) > [Science is almost totally incompatible with religion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-atkins/science-is-almost-totally-incompatible-with-religion/) [Peter Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-atkins/) > [Any argument that asserts that 'God did it' is a sign of a lazy mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-atkins/any-argument-that-asserts-that-god-did-it-is-a-sign-of-a-lazy-mind/) [Peter Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-atkins/) > [Taking care of yourself means finding a balance that works for you, then having the discipline to maintain that balance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-atkins/taking-care-of-yourself-means-finding-a-balance-that-works-for-you/) [Peter Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-atkins/) > [“Someone with a fresh mind, one not conditioned by upbringing and environment, would doubtless look at science and the powerful reductionism that it inspires…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-atkins/someone-with-a-fresh-mind-one-not-conditioned-by-upbringing-and-2/) [Peter Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-atkins/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/living-entity/peter-atkins/#itemlist", "name": "1 Living Entity Quotes By Peter Atkins", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Life is easy to identify but remarkably difficult to define. Too tight a definition excludes what looks like life and too loose captures too much. The capacity to self-replicate is a component of the definition, but not without its problems, as a mule is alive but sterile, and computer software can replicate itself, but we do not, in all honesty, think of it as being alive. It might be tempting to ascribe livingness to an entity that has emerged by evolution, but that would exclude the first living entity and any that we might synthesize from scratch in future. Organisms are organized structures; but so is an integrated circuit. Organisms are organized structures built and sustained by the flux of energy through their interiors and its dissipation into the surroundings; but so are the patterns of convection that can arise in heated liquids and, indeed, the atmosphere, to give rise to the weather: think tornado and hurricane. All known organisms are built from compounds of carbon; but if we succeeded in building a replicating, conscious, self-sustaining, energy-dissipating entity from silicon, would we deny that it was alive? Is a virus alive?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Peter Atkins" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-atkins/life-is-easy-to-identify-but-remarkably-difficult-to-define-too-tight/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/378/peter-atkins-28218_biology_life-is-easy-to-identify-but-remarkably_1160917.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/378/peter-atkins-28218_biology_life-is-easy-to-identify-but-remarkably_1160917.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/378/peter-atkins-28218_biology_life-is-easy-to-identify-but-remarkably_1160917.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Life is easy to identify but remarkably difficult to define. 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