The drive to be useful is encoded in our genes. But when we gather in very large numbers, as in the modern… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
Having long suspected that there was something alive in there, running the place, separate from everything else, absolutely individual and independent, we've… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
The whole dear notion of one's own Self-marvelous old free-willed, free- enterprising, autonomous, independent, isolated island of a Self- is a myth. — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
Viewed from the distance of the moon, the astonishing thing about the earth, catching the breath, is that it is alive. ...… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
On any Tuesday morning, if asked, a good working scientist will tell you with some self-satisfaction that the affairs of his field… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
Given the opportunity, under the right conditions, two cells from wildly different sources, a yeast cell, say, and a chicken erythrocyte, will… — Lewis Thomas Copy Share Image
Altruism has always been one of biology's deep mysteries. Why should any animal, off on its own, specified and labeled by all… — 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
