Branches Quote 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…

— Stephen Jay Gould

History employs evolution to structure biological events in time.

— Stephen Jay Gould

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

— Stephen Jay Gould

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

— Stephen Jay Gould

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

— Stephen Jay Gould

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

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

— Stephen Jay Gould

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

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

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

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

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