--- title: "11 Theory Quotes By Randolph M. Nesse" description: "11 Theory quotes by Randolph M. Nesse. Plus more from Randolph M. Nesse and more Theory sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a8/randolph-m-nesse-24802_depression_therapists-have-long-known-that-many-dep_742563.jpg" --- > [“Therapists have long known that many depressions go away only after a person finally gives up some long-sought goal and turns his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/therapists-have-long-known-that-many-depressions-go-away-only-after-a/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a8/randolph-m-nesse-24802_depression_therapists-have-long-known-that-many-dep_742563.jpg) > [“The current danger for most of us is not the deprivation suffered bu our ancestors but an excess of nutrition.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/the-current-danger-for-most-of-us-is-not-the-deprivation-suffered-bu/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/679/randolph-m-nesse-24802_danger_the-current-danger-for-most-of-us-is-not_371334.jpg) > [“Paradoxically, it now is much easier to treat many mental disorders than it is to understand them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/paradoxically-it-now-is-much-easier-to-treat-many-mental-disorders/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b80/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_paradoxically-it-now-is-much-easier-to-t_860579.jpg) > [“Except for professional athletes, dancers, cowboys, and a few other groups, most people in modern industrial societies have abnormally low energy expenditures.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/except-for-professional-athletes-dancers-cowboys-and-a-few-other/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/79a/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_except-for-professional-athletes-dancers_2150812.jpg) > [“Just as the capacity for experiencing fatigue has evolved to protect us from overexertion, the capacity for sadness may have evolved to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/just-as-the-capacity-for-experiencing-fatigue-has-evolved-to-protect/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26a/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_just-as-the-capacity-for-experiencing-fa_2193526.jpg) > [“People are not controlled by some internal calculator that crudely motivates them to maximize their reproductive success. Instead, people form deep, lifelong…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/people-are-not-controlled-by-some-internal-calculator-that-crudely/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac2/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_people-are-not-controlled-by-some-intern_494110.jpg) > [“Just as there are several components of the immune system, each of which protects us against particular kinds of invasions, there are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/just-as-there-are-several-components-of-the-immune-system-each-of/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0f/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_just-as-there-are-several-components-of_3143365.jpg) > [“Emotional capacities are shaped by situations that occurred repeatedly in the course of evolution and that were important to fitness. Attacks by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/emotional-capacities-are-shaped-by-situations-that-occurred/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d58/randolph-m-nesse-24802_biology_emotional-capacities-are-shaped-by-situa_1265709.jpg) > [“During most all of human evolution, it was adaptive to conserve energy by being lazy as circumstances permitted. Energy was a vitally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/during-most-all-of-human-evolution-it-was-adaptive-to-conserve-energy/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb3/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_during-most-all-of-human-evolution-it-wa_1907306.jpg) > [“Our dietary problems arise from a mismatch between the tastes evolved for Stone Age conditions and their likely effects today. Fat, sugar,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/our-dietary-problems-arise-from-a-mismatch-between-the-tastes-evolved/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e5/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_our-dietary-problems-arise-from-a-mismat_1653301.jpg) > [“Depression may seem completely useless. Even apart from the risk of suicide, sitting all day morosely staring at the wall can't get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/depression-may-seem-completely-useless-even-apart-from-the-risk-of/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/randolph-m-nesse-24802_depression_depression-may-seem-completely-useless-e_2326642.jpg) ## Other authors on Theory ## More by Randolph M. Nesse > [ “\[Mood allocates\] investments of time, effort, resources, and risk taking to maximize Darwinian fitness in situations of varying propitiousness. High and low moods adjust… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/mood-allocates-investments-of-time-effort-resources-and-risk-taking/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) > [“The current danger for most of us is not the deprivation suffered by our ancestors but an excess of nutrition.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/the-current-danger-for-most-of-us-is-not-the-deprivation-suffered-by/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) > [“The current danger for most of us is not the deprivation suffered bu our ancestors but an excess of nutrition.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/the-current-danger-for-most-of-us-is-not-the-deprivation-suffered-bu/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) > [I can't prove it, but I'm pretty sure that people gain a selective advantage from believing in things they can't prove.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/i-can-t-prove-it-but-i-m-pretty-sure-that-people-gain-a-selective/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) > [“People are not controlled by some internal calculator that crudely motivates them to maximize their reproductive success. Instead, people form deep, lifelong emotional attachments…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/people-are-not-controlled-by-some-internal-calculator-that-crudely/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) > [“Darwinism gives no moral guidelines about how we should live or how doctors should practice medicine. A Darwinian perspective on medicine can, however, help…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/darwinism-gives-no-moral-guidelines-about-how-we-should-live-or-how/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) > [“Therapists have long known that many depressions go away only after a person finally gives up some long-sought goal and turns his or her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/therapists-have-long-known-that-many-depressions-go-away-only-after-a/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) > [“Paradoxically, it now is much easier to treat many mental disorders than it is to understand them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/paradoxically-it-now-is-much-easier-to-treat-many-mental-disorders/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) > [“Long before there were effective treatments, physicians dispensed prognoses, hope, and, above all, meaning. When something terrible happens-and serious disease is always terrible-people want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/long-before-there-were-effective-treatments-physicians-dispensed/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) > [“Thanks to subsequent years of conversations with evolutionists, especially Williams, and with medical school residents and faculty, he has found that an evolutionary perspective…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/thanks-to-subsequent-years-of-conversations-with-evolutionists/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) > [“Emotional capacities are shaped by situations that occurred repeatedly in the course of evolution and that were important to fitness. Attacks by predators, threats…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/emotional-capacities-are-shaped-by-situations-that-occurred/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) > [“Every textbook description of a disease should have, in our opinion, a section devoted to its evolutionary aspects. This section should address the following…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/every-textbook-description-of-a-disease-should-have-in-our-opinion-a/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) > [Natural selection involves no plan, no goal, and no direction — just genes increasing and decreasing in frequency depending on whether individuals with those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/natural-selection-involves-no-plan-no-goal-and-no-direction-just/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) > [“Even our behavior and emotions seem to have been shaped by a prankster. Why do we crave the very foods that are bad for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/even-our-behavior-and-emotions-seem-to-have-been-shaped-by-a/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) > [The body is a bundle of careful compromises.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/the-body-is-a-bundle-of-careful-compromises/) [Randolph M. Nesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randolph-m-nesse/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theory/randolph-m-nesse/#itemlist", "name": "11 Theory Quotes By Randolph M. 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Nesse" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/just-as-the-capacity-for-experiencing-fatigue-has-evolved-to-protect/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26a/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_just-as-the-capacity-for-experiencing-fa_2193526.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26a/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_just-as-the-capacity-for-experiencing-fa_2193526.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26a/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_just-as-the-capacity-for-experiencing-fa_2193526.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Just as the capacity for experiencing fatigue has evolved to protect us from overexertion, the capacity for…” — Randolph M. Nesse", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“People are not controlled by some internal calculator that crudely motivates them to maximize their reproductive success. Instead, people form deep, lifelong emotional attachments and experience loves and hates that shape their lives. They have religious beliefs that guide their behavior, and they have idiosyncratic goals and ambitions. They have networks of friends and relatives.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Randolph M. 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Nesse", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Just as there are several components of the immune system, each of which protects us against particular kinds of invasions, there are subtypes of emotion that protect us against a variety of particular kinds of threats.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Randolph M. Nesse" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/just-as-there-are-several-components-of-the-immune-system-each-of/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0f/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_just-as-there-are-several-components-of_3143365.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0f/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_just-as-there-are-several-components-of_3143365.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0f/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_just-as-there-are-several-components-of_3143365.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Just as there are several components of the immune system, each of which protects us against particular…” — Randolph M. Nesse", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Emotional capacities are shaped by situations that occurred repeatedly in the course of evolution and that were important to fitness. Attacks by predators, threats of exclusion from the group, and opportunities for mating were frequent and important enough to have shaped special patterns of preparedness, such as panic, social fear, and sexual arousal. Situations that are best avoided shape aversive emotions, while situations that involve opportunity shape positive emotions.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Randolph M. Nesse" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/emotional-capacities-are-shaped-by-situations-that-occurred/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d58/randolph-m-nesse-24802_biology_emotional-capacities-are-shaped-by-situa_1265709.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d58/randolph-m-nesse-24802_biology_emotional-capacities-are-shaped-by-situa_1265709.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d58/randolph-m-nesse-24802_biology_emotional-capacities-are-shaped-by-situa_1265709.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Emotional capacities are shaped by situations that occurred repeatedly in the course of evolution and that…” — Randolph M. Nesse", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“During most all of human evolution, it was adaptive to conserve energy by being lazy as circumstances permitted. Energy was a vitally needed resourse and could not be wasted. Today this take-it-easy adaptation may lead us to watch tennis on television when we would be better off playing it. This can only aggravate the effects of excess nutrition. The average office worker would be much more healthy if he or she spent the day digging clams or harvesting fruit in scattered tall trees.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Randolph M. Nesse" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/during-most-all-of-human-evolution-it-was-adaptive-to-conserve-energy/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb3/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_during-most-all-of-human-evolution-it-wa_1907306.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb3/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_during-most-all-of-human-evolution-it-wa_1907306.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb3/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_during-most-all-of-human-evolution-it-wa_1907306.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“During most all of human evolution, it was adaptive to conserve energy by being lazy as circumstances…” — Randolph M. Nesse", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Our dietary problems arise from a mismatch between the tastes evolved for Stone Age conditions and their likely effects today. Fat, sugar, and salt were in short supply through nearly all of our evolutionary history. Almost everyone, most of the time, would have been better off with more of these substances, and it was consistenly adaptive to want more and try to get it. Today most of us can afford to eat more fat, sugar, and salt than is biologically adaptive, more than would ever have been available to our ancestors of a few thousands years ago.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Randolph M. Nesse" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/our-dietary-problems-arise-from-a-mismatch-between-the-tastes-evolved/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e5/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_our-dietary-problems-arise-from-a-mismat_1653301.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e5/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_our-dietary-problems-arise-from-a-mismat_1653301.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e5/randolph-m-nesse-24802_disease_our-dietary-problems-arise-from-a-mismat_1653301.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Our dietary problems arise from a mismatch between the tastes evolved for Stone Age conditions and their…” — Randolph M. Nesse", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 11, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Depression may seem completely useless. Even apart from the risk of suicide, sitting all day morosely staring at the wall can't get you very far. A person with severe depression typically loses interest in everything -work, friends, food, even sex. It is as if the capacities for pleasure and initiative have been turned off. Some people cry spontaneously, but others are beyond tears. Some wake every morning at 4 A.M. and can't get back to sleep; others sleep for twelve or fourteen hours per day. Some have delusions that they are impoverished, stupid, ugly, or dying of cancer. Almost all have low self-esteem. It seems preposterous even to consider that there should be anything adaptive associated with such symptoms. And yet depression is so frequent, and so closely related to ordinary sadness, that we must begin by asking if depression arises from a basic abnormality or if it is a dysregulation of a normal capacity.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Randolph M. Nesse" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randolph-m-nesse/depression-may-seem-completely-useless-even-apart-from-the-risk-of/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/randolph-m-nesse-24802_depression_depression-may-seem-completely-useless-e_2326642.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/randolph-m-nesse-24802_depression_depression-may-seem-completely-useless-e_2326642.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/randolph-m-nesse-24802_depression_depression-may-seem-completely-useless-e_2326642.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Depression may seem completely useless. Even apart from the risk of suicide, sitting all day morosely…” — Randolph M. Nesse", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theory/randolph-m-nesse/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theory/randolph-m-nesse/", "name": "Theory Quotes by Randolph M. Nesse", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theory/randolph-m-nesse/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a8/randolph-m-nesse-24802_depression_therapists-have-long-known-that-many-dep_742563.jpg" }, "description": "11 Theory quotes by Randolph M. Nesse. Plus more from Randolph M. 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