Bounds Quote by Lewis Thomas

“We are at our human finest, dancing with our minds, when there are more choices than two. Sometimes there are ten, even twenty different ways to go, all but one bound to be wrong, and the richness of the selection in such situations can lift us onto totally new ground.”

Lewis Thomas

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 2.8 out of 5 (5 ratings)

Bounds Choices Dancing Different Different ways Finest Humans Lifts Mind Psychology Richness Science Selection Situation Sometimes Ten Twenties Two Way

More by Lewis Thomas

“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

Image

We are a spectacular, splendid manifestation of life. We have language. . . . We have affection. We have genes for usefulness, and usefulness…

Lewis Thomas

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

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

Image

If an idea cannot move on its own, pushing it doesn't help; best to let it lie there.

Lewis Thomas

Image

Left to ourselves, mechanistic and autonomic, we hanker for friends.

Lewis Thomas

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

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

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

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

Image

“Nature abhors a long silence.”

Lewis Thomas

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

Image

Explore all 173 Lewis Thomas quotes

More Bounds quotes

Man will not always stay on Earth; the pursuit of light and space will lead him to penetrate the bounds of the atmosphere, timidly…

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

Image

Importunity is a condition of prayer. We are to press the matter, not with vain repetitions, but with urgent repetitions. We repeat, not to…

Edward McKendree Bounds

Image

If the civil magistrate be a Christian, a disciple or follower of the meek Lamb of God, he is bound to be far from…

Roger Williams

Image

We have committed ourselves to pursue joint policies, but then national governments say, "We aren't bound by that." That is a dramatic situation, because…

Martin Schulz