--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Ants are so much like human beings as to…" description: "\"Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrasment...They do everything but watch television.\" — Lewis Thomas" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac9/lewis-thomas-2299_ants_ants-are-so-much-like-human-beings-as-to_2061277.png" --- # Ants are so much like human beings as to be an… ![“Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrasment...They do everything but watch television.” quote by Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac9/lewis-thomas-2299_ants_ants-are-so-much-like-human-beings-as-to_2061277.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac9/lewis-thomas-2299_ants_ants-are-so-much-like-human-beings-as-to_2061277.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac9/lewis-thomas-2299_ants_ants-are-so-much-like-human-beings-as-to_2061277.png) > “Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrasment...They do everything but watch television.” [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. Ants mirror human societies in their complex cooperation and lack of idle entertainment, highlighting natural efficiency. **In simple terms:** Ants work together and avoid TV. Key Takeaway Observe natural cooperation. Themes cooperation society efficiency Mood reflective critical Type observational philosophical When to use this quote - environmental studies - team building - education - sustainability Key Concepts biology social behavior Questions to Reflect On - What can we learn from ant organization? - How does media consumption affect productivity? A Different Perspective Human culture adds unnecessary distractions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ants](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ants/) [Fungi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fungi/) [Human beings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-beings/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Sarcasm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sarcasm/) [Sarcastic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sarcastic/) [Television](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/television/) ## Related quotes > [Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into wars, use…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/ants-are-so-much-like-human-beings-as-to-be-an-embarrassment-they-2/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into war, use…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/ants-are-so-much-like-human-beings-as-to-be-an-embarrassment-they/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [Ants are more like the parts of an animal than entities on their own. They are mobile cells, circulating through a dense connective tissue…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/ants-are-more-like-the-parts-of-an-animal-than-entities-on-their-own/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“Ants, like human beings, can create civilizations without the use of reason.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abbott-lawrence-lowell/ants-like-human-beings-can-create-civilizations-without-the-use-of/) [Abbott Lawrence Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abbott-lawrence-lowell/) > [It is only when you watch the dense mass of thousands of ants, crowded together around the Hill, blackening the ground, that you begin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-is-only-when-you-watch-the-dense-mass-of-thousands-of-ants-crowded/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [I won't compare ants and people, but ants give us a useful model of how single members of a community can become so organized…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/i-won-t-compare-ants-and-people-but-ants-give-us-a-useful-model-of/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [I will confess that I have no more sense of what goes on in the mind of mankind than I have for the mind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/i-will-confess-that-i-have-no-more-sense-of-what-goes-on-in-the-mind/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [Right-thinking people are not supposed to discuss any meteorological or geophysical event - a hurricane, a wildfire, a heat wave, a drought, a flood,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-achenbach/right-thinking-people-are-not-supposed-to-discuss-any-meteorological/) [Joel Achenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-achenbach/) > [It's also hard for people to contend with the difficult possibility that we are simply overadvanced fungi and bacteria hurtling through a galaxy in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-rushkoff/it-s-also-hard-for-people-to-contend-with-the-difficult-possibility/) [Douglas Rushkoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-rushkoff/) > [...no matter how complex or affluent, human societies are nothing but subsystems of the biosphere, the Earth's thin veneer of life, which is ultimately…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vaclav-smil/no-matter-how-complex-or-affluent-human-societies-are-nothing-but/) [Vaclav Smil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vaclav-smil/) > [I had always believed government was not a fungus: It could survive in sunshine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-schroeder/i-had-always-believed-government-was-not-a-fungus-it-could-survive-in/) [Patricia Schroeder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-schroeder/) > [It is a thorough process, this war with the wilderness - breaking nature, taming the soil. feeding it on oats. The civilized man regards…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/it-is-a-thorough-process-this-war-with-the-wilderness-breaking-nature/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“Fungi have as much right to life as I do. they know what they want, Bill. Damned if I do anymore.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/fungi-have-as-much-right-to-life-as-i-do-they-know-what-they-want/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [So there you have it: Nature is a rotten mess. But that's only the beginning. If you take your eyes off it for one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-goldberg/so-there-you-have-it-nature-is-a-rotten-mess-but-that-s-only-the/) [Lee Goldberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-goldberg/) > [Why did the mushroom go to the party? Because he's a fungi!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/why-did-the-mushroom-go-to-the-party-because-he-s-a-fungi/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## 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 Ants quotes > [Some people are like ants. Give them a warm day and a piece of ground and they start digging. There the similarity ends. Ants…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-borland/some-people-are-like-ants-give-them-a-warm-day-and-a-piece-of-ground/) [Hal Borland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-borland/) > [Great God of the Ants, thou hast granted victory to thy servants. I appoint thee honorary Colonel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karel-capek/great-god-of-the-ants-thou-hast-granted-victory-to-thy-servants-i/) [Karel Capek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karel-capek/) > [Pray look upon the plants and birds, the ants, spiders, and bees, and you will see them all exerting their nature, and busy in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/pray-look-upon-the-plants-and-birds-the-ants-spiders-and-bees-and-you/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [People are like ants: Just a few of them give all the orders. And most of them spend their lives getting squashed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/people-are-like-ants-just-a-few-of-them-give-all-the-orders-and-most/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [“Some people are ants by nature; they have to work, even when it’s useless. Few people have a talent for constructive laziness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/some-people-are-ants-by-nature-they-have-to-work-even-when-it-s/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [There's a good case to be made that having fun is a key evolutionary advantage right next to opposable thumbs in terms of importance.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raph-koster/there-s-a-good-case-to-be-made-that-having-fun-is-a-key-evolutionary/) [Raph Koster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raph-koster/) > [“THE FIGHTERS ARE TINY. INSECTS, REALLY. BUT ANTS CAN SLAY AN ELEPHANT, IF THERE ARE ENOUGH OF THEM. ESPECIALLY ANTS ARMED WITH HIGH-YIELD EXPLOSIVES…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amie-kaufman/the-fighters-are-tiny-insects-really-but-ants-can-slay-an-elephant-if/) [Amie Kaufman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amie-kaufman/) > [We know of no behavior in ants or any other social insects that can be construed as play.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bert-holldobler/we-know-of-no-behavior-in-ants-or-any-other-social-insects-that-can/) [Bert Holldobler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bert-holldobler/) > [Oh, ants, my sisters, good old honeydew-seekers! From close up you are sticky and shiny and gristly; and your nymphs have parasitic red mites…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-t-vollmann/oh-ants-my-sisters-good-old-honeydew-seekers-from-close-up-you-are/) [William T. Vollmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-t-vollmann/) > [Albert and I would spend hours and hours looking at them. Cleo had this big magnifying glass on his desk, and we'd find centipedes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-flagg/albert-and-i-would-spend-hours-and-hours-looking-at-them-cleo-had/) [Fannie Flagg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-flagg/) > [When someone criticizes or disagrees with you, a small ant of hatred and antagonism is born in your heart. If you do not squash…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/when-someone-criticizes-or-disagrees-with-you-a-small-ant-of-hatred/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [“Lies are like ants; there's never just one.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-ash/lies-are-like-ants-there-s-never-just-one/) Julia Ash > [There's a scientific hypothesis that every person's name is a primary suggestive command that contains the entire script of their life in highly concentrated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-pelevin/there-s-a-scientific-hypothesis-that-every-person-s-name-is-a-primary/) [Victor Pelevin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-pelevin/) > [When I was little, I would burn ants with a magnifying glass. But now that I'm older, I'm more of a cat guy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-jeselnik/when-i-was-little-i-would-burn-ants-with-a-magnifying-glass-but-now/) [Anthony Jeselnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-jeselnik/) > [If ants were the size of humans, they would be able to run twice as fast as a Lamborghini.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-ants-were-the-size-of-humans-they-would-be-able-to-run-twice-as/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 499 Ants quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ants/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrasment...They do everything but watch television.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lewis Thomas" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/ants-are-so-much-like-human-beings-as-to-be-an-embarrasment-they-do/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ants" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/ants-are-so-much-like-human-beings-as-to-be-an-embarrasment-they-do/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac9/lewis-thomas-2299_ants_ants-are-so-much-like-human-beings-as-to_2061277.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac9/lewis-thomas-2299_ants_ants-are-so-much-like-human-beings-as-to_2061277.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac9/lewis-thomas-2299_ants_ants-are-so-much-like-human-beings-as-to_2061277.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrasment...They do everything but watch television.” — Lewis Thomas", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Lewis Thomas", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Ants are so much like human...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/ants-are-so-much-like-human-beings-as-to-be-an-embarrasment-they-do/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/ants-are-so-much-like-human-beings-as-to-be-an-embarrasment-they-do/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```