--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is economics in biology, nothing is…" description: "\"There is economics in biology, nothing is free, everything has to be paid for, there are costs as well as benefits to everything in life, for example, ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/931/richard-dawkins-115_benefits_there-is-economics-in-biology-nothing-is_3162577.jpg" --- # There is economics in biology, nothing is free, everything… ![“There is economics in biology, nothing is free, everything has to be paid for, there are costs as well as benefits to everything in life, for example, there was never sufficient natural selection pressure to develop better eyes, individuals could earn other things like smiley smiles rather than…” quote by Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/931/richard-dawkins-115_benefits_there-is-economics-in-biology-nothing-is_3162577.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/931/richard-dawkins-115_benefits_there-is-economics-in-biology-nothing-is_3162577.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/931/richard-dawkins-115_benefits_there-is-economics-in-biology-nothing-is_3162577.jpg) > “There is economics in biology, nothing is free, everything has to be paid for, there are costs as well as benefits to everything in life, for example, there was never sufficient natural selection pressure to develop better eyes, individuals could earn other things like smiley smiles rather than waste energy & time on better eyes ...” [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Biology operates with trade‑offs like economics; no trait is free, all have costs and benefits. **In simple terms:** Biology has costs and benefits like economics. Key Takeaway Consider hidden costs in natural traits. Themes evolution trade‑offs biology economics Mood thoughtful analytical curious Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - research design - environmental policy - education curricula - personal decision making Key Concepts cost‑benefit analysis resource allocation fitness landscapes Questions to Reflect On - What unseen benefits might a costly trait provide? - How can we measure intangible biological costs? A Different Perspective Complex traits may have indirect benefits not captured by simple cost‑benefit models. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Biology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/) [Economics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economics/) [Energy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/energy/) [Individual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual/) [Natural selection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural-selection/) [Pressure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pressure/) [Waste](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/waste/) ## Related quotes > [I am very comfortable with the idea that we can override biology with free will.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/i-am-very-comfortable-with-the-idea-that-we-can-override-biology-with/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Natural selection will not remove ignorance from future generations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/natural-selection-will-not-remove-ignorance-from-future-generations/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [My eyes are constantly wide open to the extraordinary fact of existence. Not just human existence, but the existence of life and how this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/my-eyes-are-constantly-wide-open-to-the-extraordinary-fact-of/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“...natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinizing, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/natural-selection-is-daily-and-hourly-scrutinizing-throughout-the/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [If there are other worlds elsewhere in the universe, I would conjecture they are governed by the same laws of natural selection.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/if-there-are-other-worlds-elsewhere-in-the-universe-i-would/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [As Darwin himself was at pains to point out, natural selection is all about differential survival within species, not between them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/as-darwin-himself-was-at-pains-to-point-out-natural-selection-is-all/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [People will say, "You're never going to convince me that something as complicated as an eye could come about by sheer chance." And the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/people-will-say-you-re-never-going-to-convince-me-that-something-as/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Design can never be an ultimate explanation for anything. It can only be a proximate explanation. A plane or a car is explained by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/design-can-never-be-an-ultimate-explanation-for-anything-it-can-only/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [For me, the level at which natural selection causes the phenomenon of adaptation is the level of the replicator - the gene.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/for-me-the-level-at-which-natural-selection-causes-the-phenomenon-of/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation forthe existence and apparently purposeful form…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/natural-selection-the-blind-unconscious-automatic-process-which/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Mutation is random; natural selection is the very opposite of random.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/mutation-is-random-natural-selection-is-the-very-opposite-of-random/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Natural selection is anything but random.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/natural-selection-is-anything-but-random/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“The earliest form of natural selection was simply a selection of stable forms and a rejection of unstable ones. There is no mystery about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-earliest-form-of-natural-selection-was-simply-a-selection-of/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres or a little money; and yet for the freedom and command of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/we-can-be-thankful-to-a-friend-for-a-few-acres-or-a-little-money-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Being on daytime TV has its benefits. You can still have a life and you know you have a check coming every week.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tyler-christopher/being-on-daytime-tv-has-its-benefits-you-can-still-have-a-life-and/) [Tyler Christopher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tyler-christopher/) ## More by Richard Dawkins > [At the deepest level, all living things that have ever been looked at have the same DNA code. And many of the same genes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/at-the-deepest-level-all-living-things-that-have-ever-been-looked-at/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [The word 'mundane' has come to mean 'boring' and 'dull', and it really shouldn't - it should mean the opposite. Because it comes from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-word-mundane-has-come-to-mean-boring-and-dull-and-it-really/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [We animals are the most complicated things in the known universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/we-animals-are-the-most-complicated-things-in-the-known-universe/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“The fundamentalist Kurt Wise proclaims that all the evidence in the universe would not change his mind. 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