We are a spectacular, splendid manifestation of life. We have language. . . . We have affection. We have genes for usefulness,… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
“It is not a simple thing to decide where we fit, for at one time or another in our lives we manage… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
It is in our genes to understand the universe if we can, to keep trying even if we cannot, and to be… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
It would seem to me... an offense against nature, for us to come on the same scene endowed as we are with… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
“The uniformity of the earth's life, more astonishing than its diversity, is accountable by the high probability that we derived, originally, from… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
All of today's DNA, strung through all the cells of the earth, is simply an extension and elaboration of [the] first molecule. — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
The greatest of all the accomplishments of 20th century science has been the discovery of human ignorance — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
In the fields I know best, among the life sciences, it is required that the most expert and sophisticated minds be capable… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
The greatest single achievement of nature to date was surely the invention of the molecule DNA. — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
“Working on a typewriter by touch, like riding a bicycle or strolling on a path, is best done by not giving it… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
We do not understand much of anything, from... the "big bang" , all the way down to the particles in the atoms… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
“However, I have a stronger hunch that the greatest part of the important biomedical research waiting to be done is in the… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
The capacity to blunder slightly is the real marvel of DNA. Without this special attribute, we would still be anaerobic bacteria and… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
Good science is done by being curious in general, by asking questions all around, by acknowledging the likelihood of being wrong and… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
I suggest that the introductory courses in science, at all levels from grade school through college, be radically revised. Leave the fundamentals,… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
We have dominated and overruled nature, and from now on the earth is ours, a kitchen garden until we learn to make… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
I cannot think of a single field in biology or medicine in which we can claim genuine understanding, and it seems to… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
I can say, if I like, that social insects behave like the working parts of an immense central nervous system: the termite… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
It is not a simple life to be a single cell, although I have no right to say so, having been a… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
...the life of the planet began the long, slow process of modulating and regulating the physical conditions of the planet. The oxygen… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
Cats are a standing rebuke to behavioral scientists wanting to know how the minds of animals work. The mind of a cat… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
I do not understand modern physics at all, but my colleagues who know a lot about the physics of very small things,… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
“The individual parts played by other instrumentalists-- crickets or earthworms, for instance-- may not have the sound of music by themselves, but… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
Science is founded on uncertainty. Each time we learn something new and surprising, the astonishment comes with the realization that we were… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
The only solid piece of scientific truth about which I feel totally confident is that we are profoundly ignorant about nature... It… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
“We are endowed with genes which code out our reaction to beavers and otters, maybe our reaction to each other as well. We are… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
We are a spectacular, splendid manifestation of life. We have language. . . . We have affection. We have genes for usefulness, and usefulness… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
“It is not a simple thing to decide where we fit, for at one time or another in our lives we manage to organize… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
It is in our genes to understand the universe if we can, to keep trying even if we cannot, and to be enchanted by… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
If an idea cannot move on its own, pushing it doesn't help; best to let it lie there. — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
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,… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
It would seem to me... an offense against nature, for us to come on the same scene endowed as we are with the curiosity,… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
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… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
I would send the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach into outer space on the Voyager spacecraft. But that would be boasting. — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
“The future is too interesting and dangerous to be entrusted to any predictable, reliable agency. We need all the fallibility we can get. Most… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
