---
title: "1 Modern Nation Quotes By Lewis Thomas"
description: "1 Modern Nation quotes by Lewis Thomas. Plus more from Lewis Thomas and more Modern Nation sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5c/lewis-thomas-2299_alive_the-drive-to-be-useful-is-encoded-in-our_140276.png"
---

> [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 seem capable of levels of folly and self-destruction to be found nowhere else in all of…](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)

## 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/)

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