Appropriate Quote by Stephen Jay Gould

“Since the universe must contain millions of appropriate planets, consciousness in some form - but not with the paired eyes and limbs, and the brain built of neurons in the only example we know - may evolve frequently. But if only one origin of life in a million ever leads to consciousness, then Martian bacteria most emphatically do not imply Little Green Men.”

Stephen Jay Gould

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More by Stephen Jay Gould

I strongly reject any conceptual scheme that places our options on a line, and holds that the only alternative to a pair of extreme…

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History employs evolution to structure biological events in time.

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In his anti-Darwinian book... (and eponymously named The Neck of the Giraffe ), Francis Hitching tells the story... "The need to survive by reaching…

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... many folks take them seriously because they just 'know' that evolution can never be seen in the immediate here and now. In fact,…

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Charles Darwin viewed the fossil record more as an embarrassment than as an aid to his theory ...

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Zoocentrism is the primary fallacy of human sociobiology, for this view of human behavior rests on the argument that if the actions of "lower"…

Stephen Jay Gould

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The world, unfortunately, rarely matches our hopes and consistently refuses to behave in a reasonable manner.

Stephen Jay Gould

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The true beauty of nature is her amplitude; she exists neither for nor because of us, and possesses a staying power that all our…

Stephen Jay Gould

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With copious evidence ranging from Plato's haughtiness to Beethoven's tirades, we may conclude that the most brilliant people of history tend to be a…

Stephen Jay Gould

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When scientists need to explain difficult points of theory, illustration by hypothetical example - rather than by total abstraction - works well (perhaps indispensably)…

Stephen Jay Gould

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The truly awesome intellectuals in our history have not merely made discoveries; they have woven variegated, but firm, tapestries of comprehensive coverage. The tapestries…

Stephen Jay Gould

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I believe that we can still have a genre of scientific books suitable for and accessible alike to professionals and interested laypeople. The concepts…

Stephen Jay Gould

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More Appropriate quotes

I was for many years myself a journalist and it is not appropriate to say a programme should not be broadcast.

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I don't think 'This Means War' is an appropriate picture to do in 3-D.

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There is no single best kind of death. A good death is one that is "appropriate" for that person. It is a death in…

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Persons who have cleansed themselves of any transgression and who have shown their ability to deal with homosexual inclinations and put them in the…

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[T]he appropriate form of address between man and man ought to be, not monsieur, sir, but fellow sufferer, compagnon de miseres.

Arthur Schopenhauer

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I would not, under any circumstances, try to impose my personal faith and belief on the rest of the country. I don't think that's…

John Edwards

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I have no policy, for or against: only a personal style. Which is to say, I use them when I think it's appropriate to;…

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While the intelligence profession oftentimes demands secrecy, it is critically important that there be a full and open discourse on intelligence matters with the…

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Computer Science is a science of abstraction -creating the right model for a problem and devising the appropriate mechanizable techniques to solve it.

Alfred Aho