--- title: "6 Natural history Quotes By Stephen Jay Gould" description: "6 Natural history quotes by Stephen Jay Gould. Plus more from Stephen Jay Gould and more Natural history sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aee/stephen-jay-gould-885_age_in-natural-history-great-discovery-often_987347.png" --- > [ \[In natural history,\] great discovery often requires a map to a hidden mine filled with gems then easily gathered by conventional tools,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/in-natural-history-great-discovery-often-requires-a-map-to-a-hidden/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aee/stephen-jay-gould-885_age_in-natural-history-great-discovery-often_987347.png) > [ I am particularly fond of \[Emmanuel Mendes da Costa's\] Natural History of Fossils because this treatise, more than any other work written… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/i-am-particularly-fond-of-emmanuel-mendes-da-costa-s-natural-history/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55c/stephen-jay-gould-885_emmanuel_i-am-particularly-fond-of-emmanuel-mende_1467994.jpg) > [“Astronomy defined our home as a small planet tucked away in one corner of an average galaxy among million; biology took away…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/astronomy-defined-our-home-as-a-small-planet-tucked-away-in-one/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/486/stephen-jay-gould-885_astronomy_astronomy-defined-our-home-as-a-small-pl_1696401.jpg) > [I was lucky to wander into evolutionary theory, one of the most exciting and important of all scientific fields. I had never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/i-was-lucky-to-wander-into-evolutionary-theory-one-of-the-most/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47b/stephen-jay-gould-885_age_i-was-lucky-to-wander-into-evolutionary_2013624.jpg) > [All interesting issues in natural history are questions of relative frequency, not single examples. Everything happens once amidst the richness of nature.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/all-interesting-issues-in-natural-history-are-questions-of-relative/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1c/stephen-jay-gould-885_again-and-again_all-interesting-issues-in-natural-histor_2972005.jpg) > [“Geology gave us the immensity of time and taught us how little of it our own species has occupied.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/geology-gave-us-the-immensity-of-time-and-taught-us-how-little-of-it/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab6/stephen-jay-gould-885_geology_geology-gave-us-the-immensity-of-time-an_3212374.png) ## Other authors on Natural history - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b007/author-david-attenborough-27191.jpg) David Attenborough 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural-history/david-attenborough/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b017/author-marston-bates-64600.jpg) Marston Bates 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural-history/marston-bates/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b006/author-charles-darwin-22208.jpg) Charles Darwin 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural-history/charles-darwin/) ## More by Stephen Jay Gould > [I strongly reject any conceptual scheme that places our options on a line, and holds that the only alternative to a pair of extreme…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/i-strongly-reject-any-conceptual-scheme-that-places-our-options-on-a/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [History employs evolution to structure biological events in time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/history-employs-evolution-to-structure-biological-events-in-time/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [In his anti-Darwinian book... (and eponymously named The Neck of the Giraffe ), Francis Hitching tells the story... "The need to survive by reaching…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/in-his-anti-darwinian-book-and-eponymously-named-the-neck-of-the/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [... many folks take them seriously because they just 'know' that evolution can never be seen in the immediate here and now. In fact,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/many-folks-take-them-seriously-because-they-just-know-that-evolution/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [Charles Darwin viewed the fossil record more as an embarrassment than as an aid to his theory ...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/charles-darwin-viewed-the-fossil-record-more-as-an-embarrassment-than/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [Zoocentrism is the primary fallacy of human sociobiology, for this view of human behavior rests on the argument that if the actions of "lower"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/zoocentrism-is-the-primary-fallacy-of-human-sociobiology-for-this/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [The world, unfortunately, rarely matches our hopes and consistently refuses to behave in a reasonable manner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/the-world-unfortunately-rarely-matches-our-hopes-and-consistently/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [The true beauty of nature is her amplitude; she exists neither for nor because of us, and possesses a staying power that all our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/the-true-beauty-of-nature-is-her-amplitude-she-exists-neither-for-nor/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/with-copious-evidence-ranging-from-plato-s-haughtiness-to-beethoven-s/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [When scientists need to explain difficult points of theory, illustration by hypothetical example - rather than by total abstraction - works well (perhaps indispensably)…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/when-scientists-need-to-explain-difficult-points-of-theory/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [The truly awesome intellectuals in our history have not merely made discoveries; they have woven variegated, but firm, tapestries of comprehensive coverage. The tapestries…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/the-truly-awesome-intellectuals-in-our-history-have-not-merely-made/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [I believe that we can still have a genre of scientific books suitable for and accessible alike to professionals and interested laypeople. The concepts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/i-believe-that-we-can-still-have-a-genre-of-scientific-books-suitable/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [Science simply cannot adjudicate the issue of God's possible superintendence of nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/science-simply-cannot-adjudicate-the-issue-of-god-s-possible/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [But if we laugh with derision, we will never understand. Human intellectual capacity has not altered for thousands of years so far as we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/but-if-we-laugh-with-derision-we-will-never-understand-human/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [We debase the richness of both nature and our own minds if we view the great pageant of our intellectual history as a compendium…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/we-debase-the-richness-of-both-nature-and-our-own-minds-if-we-view/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural-history/stephen-jay-gould/#itemlist", "name": "6 Natural history Quotes By Stephen Jay Gould", "numberOfItems": 6, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "[In natural history,] great discovery often requires a map to a hidden mine filled with gems then easily gathered by conventional tools, not a shiny new space-age machine for penetrating previously inaccessible worlds.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Stephen Jay Gould" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/in-natural-history-great-discovery-often-requires-a-map-to-a-hidden/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aee/stephen-jay-gould-885_age_in-natural-history-great-discovery-often_987347.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aee/stephen-jay-gould-885_age_in-natural-history-great-discovery-often_987347.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aee/stephen-jay-gould-885_age_in-natural-history-great-discovery-often_987347.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“[In natural history,] great discovery often requires a map to a hidden mine filled with gems then easily…” — Stephen Jay Gould", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I am particularly fond of [Emmanuel Mendes da Costa's] Natural History of Fossils because this treatise, more than any other work written in English, records a short episode expressing one of the grand false starts in the history of natural science and nothing can be quite so informative and instructive as a juicy mistake.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Stephen Jay Gould" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/i-am-particularly-fond-of-emmanuel-mendes-da-costa-s-natural-history/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55c/stephen-jay-gould-885_emmanuel_i-am-particularly-fond-of-emmanuel-mende_1467994.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55c/stephen-jay-gould-885_emmanuel_i-am-particularly-fond-of-emmanuel-mende_1467994.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55c/stephen-jay-gould-885_emmanuel_i-am-particularly-fond-of-emmanuel-mende_1467994.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I am particularly fond of [Emmanuel Mendes da Costa's] Natural History of Fossils because this treatise…” — Stephen Jay Gould", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Astronomy defined our home as a small planet tucked away in one corner of an average galaxy among million; biology took away our status as paragons created in the image of God; geology gave us the immensity of time and taught us how little of it our own species has occupied.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Stephen Jay Gould" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/astronomy-defined-our-home-as-a-small-planet-tucked-away-in-one/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/486/stephen-jay-gould-885_astronomy_astronomy-defined-our-home-as-a-small-pl_1696401.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/486/stephen-jay-gould-885_astronomy_astronomy-defined-our-home-as-a-small-pl_1696401.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/486/stephen-jay-gould-885_astronomy_astronomy-defined-our-home-as-a-small-pl_1696401.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Astronomy defined our home as a small planet tucked away in one corner of an average galaxy among million…” — Stephen Jay Gould", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I was lucky to wander into evolutionary theory, one of the most exciting and important of all scientific fields. 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