« All Evolution Quotes · Stephen Jay Gould's Page
Evolution Quotes by Stephen Jay Gould
- Odd arrangements and funny solutions are the proof of evolution - paths that a sensible God would never tread but that a natural process, constrained…
- [Evolution is] one of the best documented, most compelling and exciting concepts in all of science.
- The pathways that have led to our evolution are quirky, improbable, unrepeatable and utterly unpredictable.
- The absence of fossil evidence for intermediary stages between major transitions in organic design, indeed our inability, even in our imagination, to construct functional intermediates…
- I can envision observations and experiments that would disprove any evolutionary theory I know.
- Recapitulation provided a convenient focus for the persuasive racism of white scientists; they looked to the activities of their own children for comparison with normal…
- Paleontologists [fossil experts] have paid an exorbitant price for Darwin's argument. We fancy ourselves as the only true students of life's history, yet to preserve…
- Asian Homo erectus died without issue and does not enter our immediate ancestry (for we evolved from African populations); Neanderthal people were collateral cousins, perhaps…
- Creationist critics often charge that evolution cannot be tested, and therefore cannot be viewed as a properly scientific subject at all. This claim is rhetorical…
- Evolution is one of the two or three most primally fascinating subjects in all the sciences.
- The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm.
- I am not, personally, a believer or a religious man in any sense of institutional commitment or practice. But I have a great respect for…
- The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as a trade secret of Paleontology. Evolutionary trees that adorn our textbooks have data…
- In science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' I suppose that apples might…
- Evolution is a process of constant branching and expansion.
- The proof of evolution lies in those adaptations that arise from improbable foundations.
- Skepticism is the agent of reason against organized irrationalism--and is therefore one of the keys to human social and civic decency.
- We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures; because the earth…
- Why, then, do I continue to claim that creationism isn't science? Simply because these relatively few statements have been tested and conclusively refuted.
- Still, our creationist incubi, who would never let facts spoil a favorite argument, refuse to yield, and continue to assert the absence of all transitional…
More Evolution Quotes
- Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, is the property of only a few:… — Pope Francis
- As far as I'm concerned, if there is a supreme being then He chose organic evolution as a way of bringing into… — David Attenborough
- Rest assured that whatever station of life we are placed, princely or lowly, it contains the lessons and experiences necessary at the… — Edward Bach
- Part of what makes a language 'alive' is its constant evolution. I would hate to think Britain would ever emulate France, where… — Joanne Kathleen Rowling
- We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot… — ZhatsPrincess
- Creationists make it sound as though a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night. — Isaac Asimov
- Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish. — Marcus Aurelius
- Evolution isn't true, because if we evolved from monkeys, how can they still be here? — Stephen Baldwin