--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Well, biology today as I see it has an…" description: "\"Well, biology today as I see it has an amiable look - quite different from the 19th-century view that the whole arrangement of nature is hostile, 'red ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1de/lewis-thomas-2299_19th-century_well-biology-today-as-i-see-it-has-an-am_1489650.png" --- # Well, biology today as I see it has an amiable look… ![“Well, biology today as I see it has an amiable look - quite different from the 19th-century view that the whole arrangement of nature is hostile, 'red in tooth and claw.' That came about because people misread Darwin's 'survival of the fittest.'” quote by Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1de/lewis-thomas-2299_19th-century_well-biology-today-as-i-see-it-has-an-am_1489650.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1de/lewis-thomas-2299_19th-century_well-biology-today-as-i-see-it-has-an-am_1489650.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1de/lewis-thomas-2299_19th-century_well-biology-today-as-i-see-it-has-an-am_1489650.png) > “Well, biology today as I see it has an amiable look - quite different from the 19th-century view that the whole arrangement of nature is hostile, 'red in tooth and claw.' That came about because people misread Darwin's 'survival of the fittest.'” [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. The author challenges the outdated view of nature as brutal, arguing that modern biology sees life as cooperative rather than purely competitive. **In simple terms:** Nature is more collaborative than the old “survival of the fittest” view suggests. Key Takeaway Recognize cooperation in ecosystems. Themes biology cooperation evolution Mood analytical curious Type scientific educational When to use this quote - environmental policy - education - conservation - public health Key Concepts ecology systems theory Questions to Reflect On - How does cooperation shape ecosystems? - What balance exists between competition and cooperation? A Different Perspective Simplifying evolution to “cooperation only” ignores competition’s role. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [19th century](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/19th-century/) [Amiable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amiable/) [Biology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/) [Biology Today](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology-today-5443533/) [Century](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/century/) [Claws](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/claws/) [Darwin Survival](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darwin-survival-5271440/) [Different](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/different/) [Evolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evolution/) [Hostile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hostile/) [Look](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/look/) [Looks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/looks/) [Misread Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/misread-darwin-5443532/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Nature Hostile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-hostile-2179112/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Red](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/red/) [Survival](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/survival/) [Survival of the fittest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/survival-of-the-fittest/) [Teeth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teeth/) [Today](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/today/) [Views](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/views/) [Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wells/) [Whole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whole/) ## Related quotes > [“Darwin’s ‘survival of the fittest’ is really a special case of a more general law of survival of the stable.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/darwin-s-survival-of-the-fittest-is-really-a-special-case-of-a-more/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [I really like to have a coffee shop next door and be able to smoke a cigarette. I'm a city person; I regard nature…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-espinosa/i-really-like-to-have-a-coffee-shop-next-door-and-be-able-to-smoke-a/) [Daniel Espinosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-espinosa/) > [“To you nature seems something hostile; you have made devils out of the smiling gods of Greece, and out of me a demon.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritter-von-leopold-sacher-masoch/to-you-nature-seems-something-hostile-you-have-made-devils-out-of-the/) [Ritter von Leopold Sacher-Masoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritter-von-leopold-sacher-masoch/) > [Children are monsters of unbridled egotism and will, for they spring directly from nature, hostile intimations of immorality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/camille-paglia/children-are-monsters-of-unbridled-egotism-and-will-for-they-spring/) [Camille Paglia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/camille-paglia/) > [Somehow the notion has been loosed that nature is hostile to man or that her ways are offensive or slovenly, so that every step…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-m-weaver/somehow-the-notion-has-been-loosed-that-nature-is-hostile-to-man-or/) [Richard M. Weaver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-m-weaver/) > [The beauty of the person of Christ, as represented in the Scripture, consists in things invisible unto the eyes of flesh. They are such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-owen/the-beauty-of-the-person-of-christ-as-represented-in-the-scripture/) [John Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-owen/) > [Aamir and Kiran Rao are a very nice, gentle and amiable couple.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shatrughan-sinha/aamir-and-kiran-rao-are-a-very-nice-gentle-and-amiable-couple/) [Shatrughan Sinha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shatrughan-sinha/) > [He could not forgive her, but he could not be unfeeling. Though condemning her for the past, and considering it with high and unjust…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/he-could-not-forgive-her-but-he-could-not-be-unfeeling-though/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [There are only two kinds of people in the modern world who know what they are after. One, quite frankly, is the Communist. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-fisher/there-are-only-two-kinds-of-people-in-the-modern-world-who-know-what/) [Geoffrey Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-fisher/) > [Our respect for the dead, when they are just dead, is something wonderful, and the way we show it more wonderful still. We show…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ruskin/our-respect-for-the-dead-when-they-are-just-dead-is-something/) [John Ruskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ruskin/) > [If you'd be beloved, make yourself amiable. A true friend is the best possession.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/if-you-d-be-beloved-make-yourself-amiable-a-true-friend-is-the-best/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [In the taverns all was amiable and easy, but the coffeehouses were cauldrons of edgy malcontents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-holland/in-the-taverns-all-was-amiable-and-easy-but-the-coffeehouses-were/) [Barbara Holland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-holland/) > [“However amiable her temper, her heart was not likely to be easily touched.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/however-amiable-her-temper-her-heart-was-not-likely-to-be-easily/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [Drivers in a traffic jam, frustrated by each others presence, are not the most amiable of men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/drivers-in-a-traffic-jam-frustrated-by-each-others-presence-are-not/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) > [We must hold fast to the austere but true doctrine as to what really governs politics and saves or destroys states. Having in mind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/we-must-hold-fast-to-the-austere-but-true-doctrine-as-to-what-really/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) ## 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 19th century quotes > [Though my grandmother had picked up modern ideas in America, she still had some conflicting 19th-century Irish notions. She believed that daughters, educated though…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rosemary-mahoney/though-my-grandmother-had-picked-up-modern-ideas-in-america-she-still/) [Rosemary Mahoney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rosemary-mahoney/) > [Nineteenth-century English literature I know; 19th-century sewage systems, not so much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/nineteenth-century-english-literature-i-know-19th-century-sewage/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [“Washington was no politician as we understand the word," replied Ratcliffe abruptly. "He stood outside of politics. The thing couldn't be done today. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-adams/washington-was-no-politician-as-we-understand-the-word-replied/) [Henry Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-adams/) > [Then years back, when I moved to California, I happened to see a book about fashions of 19th-century Victorian England, only four pages of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/then-years-back-when-i-moved-to-california-i-happened-to-see-a-book/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Like the railroads that brought us together in the 19th century, these trails will bring us together in the 20th and 21st centuries. 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Luddites were those frenzied traditionalists of the early 19th century who toured \[England\] wrecking new weaving machines on the theory that… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-michener/luddites-were-those-frenzied-traditionalists-of-the-early-19th/) [James A. 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I don't think that today's women see motherhood as a source…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clare-wright/an-ethic-of-maternalism-was-central-to-the-utopianism-of-19th-century/) [Clare Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clare-wright/) [Browse all 383 19th century quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/19th-century/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Well, biology today as I see it has an amiable look - quite different from the 19th-century view that the whole arrangement of nature is hostile, 'red in tooth and claw.' 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