--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Animals, even plants, lie to each other…" description: "\"Animals, even plants, lie to each other all the time, and we could restrict the research to them, putting off the real truth about ourselves for the se..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6dd/lewis-thomas-2299_animal_animals-even-plants-lie-to-each-other-al_1962841.png" --- # Animals, even plants, lie to each other all the time, and… ![“Animals, even plants, lie to each other all the time, and we could restrict the research to them, putting off the real truth about ourselves for the several centuries we need to catch our breath. What is it that enables certain flowers to resemble nubile insects, or opossums to play dead, or…” quote by Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6dd/lewis-thomas-2299_animal_animals-even-plants-lie-to-each-other-al_1962841.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6dd/lewis-thomas-2299_animal_animals-even-plants-lie-to-each-other-al_1962841.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6dd/lewis-thomas-2299_animal_animals-even-plants-lie-to-each-other-al_1962841.png) > “Animals, even plants, lie to each other all the time, and we could restrict the research to them, putting off the real truth about ourselves for the several centuries we need to catch our breath. What is it that enables certain flowers to resemble nubile insects, or opossums to play dead, or female fireflies to change the code of their flashes in order to attract, and then eat, males of a different species?” [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Mimicry and deception in nature reveal our tendency to avoid confronting our own truths, delaying self‑knowledge. **In simple terms:** Nature's tricks hide truth; we delay self‑knowledge. Key Takeaway Confront personal truths promptly. Themes biology self-deception truth evolution Mood curious reflective Type inspirational philosophical When to use this quote - scientific research - personal growth - environmental policy Key Concepts philosophy ethics Questions to Reflect On - What truths are you avoiding? - How does nature’s deception mirror human behavior? A Different Perspective Focusing only on external mimicry may ignore internal insight. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Animal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animal/) [Animals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animals/) [Breaths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/breaths/) [Code](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/code/) [Female](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/female/) [Firefly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firefly/) [Flower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flower/) [Insects](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/insects/) [Lying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lying/) [Males](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/males/) [Order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/order/) [Plant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/plant/) [Play](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/play/) [Real truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real-truth/) [Research](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/research/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [“On the whole it is certainly not necessary. Nothing can better defend us than nature itself, which has let certain flowers and leaves grow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-grimm/on-the-whole-it-is-certainly-not-necessary-nothing-can-better-defend/) [Jacob Grimm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-grimm/) > [“You told me once of t he plants that lie dormant through the drought; that wait, half dead, deep in the earth. The plants…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucy-christopher/you-told-me-once-of-t-he-plants-that-lie-dormant-through-the-drought/) [Lucy Christopher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucy-christopher/) > [“Down close to certain flowers all excesses are sufficiencies”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-giannini/down-close-to-certain-flowers-all-excesses-are-sufficiencies/) David Giannini > [“In the small seeds of plants lie hidden both bulk and branches, bud and fruit. In a few principles lie hidden all comfortable conclusions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-sibbes/in-the-small-seeds-of-plants-lie-hidden-both-bulk-and-branches-bud/) [Richard Sibbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-sibbes/) > [The best farming systems are ones where animals and plants are put into a synergistic relationship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-pollan/the-best-farming-systems-are-ones-where-animals-and-plants-are-put/) [Michael Pollan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-pollan/) > [“He can remember that all beauty in animals and plants is a silent, enduring form of love and longing, and he can see the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/he-can-remember-that-all-beauty-in-animals-and-plants-is-a-silent/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [Remember that the animals and plants have no M.P. they can write to; they can't perform sit-down strikes or, indeed, strikes of any sort;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-durrell/remember-that-the-animals-and-plants-have-no-m-p-they-can-write-to/) [Gerald Durrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-durrell/) > [Man is an individual. The animals, plants and minerals are divided into species. They are not individualized in the same sense that man is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-heindel/man-is-an-individual-the-animals-plants-and-minerals-are-divided-into/) [Max Heindel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-heindel/) > [Nature is none other than God in things... Animals and plants are living effects of Nature; Whence all of God is in all things...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giordano-bruno/nature-is-none-other-than-god-in-things-animals-and-plants-are-living/) [Giordano Bruno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giordano-bruno/) > [It is a truly wonderful fact - the wonder of which we are apt to overlook from familiarity - that all animals and all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/it-is-a-truly-wonderful-fact-the-wonder-of-which-we-are-apt-to/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [Nature is none other than God in all things. Animals and plants are living effects of Nature; Whence all of God is in all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giordano-bruno/nature-is-none-other-than-god-in-all-things-animals-and-plants-are/) [Giordano Bruno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giordano-bruno/) > [Generation by male and female is a law common to animals and plants.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-boerhaave/generation-by-male-and-female-is-a-law-common-to-animals-and-plants/) [Herman Boerhaave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-boerhaave/) > [“In the Ondariva gardens the branches spread out like the tentacles of extraordinary animals, and the plants on the ground opened up stars of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/italo-calvino/in-the-ondariva-gardens-the-branches-spread-out-like-the-tentacles-of/) [Italo Calvino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/italo-calvino/) > [I love animals and plants and sometimes even people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/drew-chadwick/i-love-animals-and-plants-and-sometimes-even-people/) [Drew Chadwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/drew-chadwick/) > [Theme-park approach to nature. We judge plants and animals by whether they're entertaining to us. We gravitate toward animals and plants that are big,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-larson/theme-park-approach-to-nature-we-judge-plants-and-animals-by-whether/) [Gary Larson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-larson/) ## 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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-are-endowed-with-genes-which-code-out-our-reaction-to-beavers-and/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [We are a spectacular, splendid manifestation of life. We have language. . . . We have affection. We have genes for usefulness, and usefulness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-are-a-spectacular-splendid-manifestation-of-life-we-have-language/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“It is not a simple thing to decide where we fit, for at one time or another in our lives we manage to organize…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-is-not-a-simple-thing-to-decide-where-we-fit-for-at-one-time-or/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [It is in our genes to understand the universe if we can, to keep trying even if we cannot, and to be enchanted by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-is-in-our-genes-to-understand-the-universe-if-we-can-to-keep/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [If an idea cannot move on its own, pushing it doesn't help; best to let it lie there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/if-an-idea-cannot-move-on-its-own-pushing-it-doesn-t-help-best-to-let/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [Left to ourselves, mechanistic and autonomic, we hanker for friends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/left-to-ourselves-mechanistic-and-autonomic-we-hanker-for-friends/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [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,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/i-do-not-agree-with-this-century-s-fashion-of-running-down-the-human/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [It would seem to me... an offense against nature, for us to come on the same scene endowed as we are with the curiosity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-would-seem-to-me-an-offense-against-nature-for-us-to-come-on-the/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/the-drive-to-be-useful-is-encoded-in-our-genes-but-when-we-gather-in/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [I would send the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach into outer space on the Voyager spacecraft. But that would be boasting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/i-would-send-the-complete-works-of-johann-sebastian-bach-into-outer/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“Nature abhors a long silence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/nature-abhors-a-long-silence/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“The future is too interesting and dangerous to be entrusted to any predictable, reliable agency. We need all the fallibility we can get. Most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/the-future-is-too-interesting-and-dangerous-to-be-entrusted-to-any/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [We pass the word around; we ponder how the case is put by different people, we read the poetry; we meditate over the literature;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-pass-the-word-around-we-ponder-how-the-case-is-put-by-different/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“The uniformity of the earth's life, more astonishing than its diversity, is accountable by the high probability that we derived, originally, from some single…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/the-uniformity-of-the-earth-s-life-more-astonishing-than-its/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [Having long suspected that there was something alive in there, running the place, separate from everything else, absolutely individual and independent, we've celebrated by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/having-long-suspected-that-there-was-something-alive-in-there-running/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) [Explore all 173 Lewis Thomas quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) ## More Animal quotes > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. 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He becomes uniquely human when he reaches out for the superfluous and extravagant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hoffer/when-grubbing-for-necessities-man-is-still-an-animal-he-becomes/) [Eric Hoffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hoffer/) > [I'm 38 and I'm single, and I'm having my most intense and gratifying relationship with a dog. But we all learn about love in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caroline-knapp/i-m-38-and-i-m-single-and-i-m-having-my-most-intense-and-gratifying/) [Caroline Knapp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caroline-knapp/) > [Practically all animals which move fast in a homogeneous medium have found means of giving their body a streamlined shape, thereby reducing friction to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/konrad-lorenz/practically-all-animals-which-move-fast-in-a-homogeneous-medium-have/) [Konrad Lorenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/konrad-lorenz/) > [A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/a-horse-a-horse-my-kingdom-for-a-horse/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [“it is a federal system of sadistic torture, vivisection, and animal genocide, which has been carried on for decades under the fraudulent guise of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-tobias/it-is-a-federal-system-of-sadistic-torture-vivisection-and-animal/) [Michael Tobias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-tobias/) > [“What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-becker/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-self-conscious-animal-the-idea-is-ludicrous/) [Ernest Becker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-becker/) > [We must love animals in such a powerful way that we should reject to eat them!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/we-must-love-animals-in-such-a-powerful-way-that-we-should-reject-to/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [“The universe contains any amount of horrible ways to be woken up, such as the noise of the mob breaking down the front door,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/the-universe-contains-any-amount-of-horrible-ways-to-be-woken-up-such/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [This brings me back to the image of Kafka standing before a fish in the Berlin aquarium, a fish on which his gaze fell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-safran-foer/this-brings-me-back-to-the-image-of-kafka-standing-before-a-fish-in/) [Jonathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-safran-foer/) > [That dog, I say that dog is lower than a snake full of buckshot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/foghorn-leghorn/that-dog-i-say-that-dog-is-lower-than-a-snake-full-of-buckshot/) [Foghorn Leghorn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/foghorn-leghorn/) > [I bet plants go like 'Weeeeeeeee!' whenever they're swallowed by a giraffe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-bet-plants-go-like-weeeeeeeee-whenever-they-re-swallowed-by-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Animal rights without veganism is like human rights with slavery. It makes no sense. None whatsoever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-l-francione/animal-rights-without-veganism-is-like-human-rights-with-slavery-it/) [Gary L. Francione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-l-francione/) [Browse all 13,456 Animal quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animal/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Animals, even plants, lie to each other all the time, and we could restrict the research to them, putting off the real truth about ourselves for the several centuries we need to catch our breath. 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