Biologist

Explore 58 quotes by Biologists

Animals whom we have made our slaves we do not like to consider our equals.

Charles Darwin

More information about this quote

Topic

Man and animals Animals

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

Notebooks of Charles Darwin

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1838 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. "Notebook B." Transmutation of Species. 1837-1838, p. 231.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. "Transmutation of Species: Notebook B [1837-1838]." Charles Darwin's Notebooks, 1836–1844, transcribed and edited by David Kohn. Cambridge University Press, 2009.

With me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man's mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy.

Charles Darwin

More information about this quote

Topic

Human cognition The mind Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

Letters of Charles Darwin

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1881 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. Letter to William Graham. 3 July 1881.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. "To William Graham, 3 July 1881." The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, edited by Frederick Burkhardt and James A. Secord. Vol. 29: 1870. Cambridge University Press, 2022, no. 13230.

Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.

T.H. Huxley

More information about this quote

Topic

Irrationality Reason

Speaker

T.H. Huxley

Source

The Coming of Age of the Origin of Species

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1880 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Huxley, Thomas Henry. "The Coming of Age of The Origin of Species." 19 Mar. 1880, Royal Institution, London, England, UK. Lecture.

A man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes.

T.H. Huxley

More information about this quote

Topic

Downsides of freedom Unlimited freedom Freedom

Speaker

T.H. Huxley

Source

Address on University Education

Medium

Speech

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1876 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Huxley, Thomas Henry. Address on university education. Formal opening gathering. 12 Sept. 1876, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.

I am too much of a sceptic to deny the possibility of anything.

T.H. Huxley

More information about this quote

Topic

Doubt and skepticism

Author

T.H. Huxley

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1886 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Huxley, Thomas Henry. Letter to Herbert Spencer. 22 Mar. 1886.

For every man the world is as fresh as it was at the first day, and as full of untold novelties for him who has the eyes to see them.

T.H. Huxley

A Liberal Education

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More information about this quote

Topic

Curiosity

Speaker

T.H. Huxley

Source

A Liberal Education

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1868 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Huxley, Thomas Henry. "A Liberal Education." 1868, Working Men's College, London, England, UK.

It is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions.

T.H. Huxley

More information about this quote

Topic

Ideas Truth Heresy Superstition

Speaker

T.H. Huxley

Source

The Coming of Age of the Origin of Species

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1880 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Huxley, Thomas Henry. "The Coming of Age of The Origin of Species." 19 Mar. 1880, Royal Institution, London, England, UK. Lecture.

A man does not attain the status of Galileo merely because he is persecuted; he must also be right.

Stephen Jay Gould

More information about this quote

Topic

Persecution Science

Author

Stephen Jay Gould

Source

Ever Since Darwin

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1975 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Gould, Stephen Jay. "Velikovsky In Collision." Natural History, Mar. 1975.

Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation for the existence and apparently purposeful form of all life, has no purpose in mind. It has no mind and no mind's eye. It does not plan for the future. It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker.

Richard Dawkins

Buy The Blind Watchmaker at Amazon Buy The Blind Watchmaker at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Natural selection Origin of life Evolution

Author

Richard Dawkins

Source

The Blind Watchmaker

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1986 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dawkins, Richard. The Blind Watchmaker. Norton & Company, 1986, ch. 1.

In science, "fact" can only mean "confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent."

Stephen Jay Gould

Evolution as Fact and Theory

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More information about this quote

Topic

Science

Author

Stephen Jay Gould

Source

Evolution as Fact and Theory

Medium

Essay

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1983 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Gould, Stephen Jay. "Evolution as Fact and Theory." Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes. W. W. Norton & Company, 1983, ch. 19.

Operationally, God is beginning to resemble not a ruler but the last fading smile of a cosmic Cheshire cat.

Julian Huxley

More information about this quote

Topic

God of the gaps Science and religion Existence of God Nature of God God

Author

Julian Huxley

Source

Religion without Revelation

Genre

Philosophical literature Religious literature

Language

English

Time

1927 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Huxley, Julian. Religion without Revelation. New American Library, 1957, ch. 3. Originally published by Harper & Brothers, 1927, ch. 3.

Every act of perception, is to some degree an act of creation, and every act of memory is to some degree an act of imagination.

Gerald M. Edelman

More information about this quote

Topic

Perception Observation Creation Memory Imagination

Author

Gerald M. Edelman

Source

A Universe of Consciousness

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

2000 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Edelman, Sam and Giulio Tononi. A Universe of Consciousness: How Matter Becomes Imagination. Basic Books, 2000.

Now, my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose... I suspect that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of, or can be dreamed of, in any philosophy.

J.B.S. Haldane

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of the universe The universe

Author

J.B.S. Haldane

Source

Possible Worlds and Other Essays

Language

English

Time

1927 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Haldane, J. B. S. "Possible Worlds." Possible Worlds and Other Essays. Chatto and Windus, 1927.

Current Citation

Haldane, J. B. S. "Possible Worlds." Possible Worlds and Other Essays. Routledge, 2001.

For my own part I would as soon be descended from that heroic little monkey, who braved his dread enemy in order to save the life of his keeper; or from that old baboon, who descending from the mountains, carried away in triumph his young comrade from a crowd of astonished dogs--as from a savage who delights to torture his enemies, offers up bloody sacrifices, practices infanticide without remorse, treats his wives like slaves, knows no decency, and is haunted by the grossest superstitions.

Charles Darwin

The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex

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Read The Descent of Man at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Human origins Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1871 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray, 1871, pt. 3, ch. 21.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man. Penguin Classics, 2004, pt. 3, ch. 21.

To kill an error is as good a service as, and sometimes even better than, the establishing a new truth or fact.

Charles Darwin

More information about this quote

Topic

Scientific progress Progress Science

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

Letters of Charles Darwin

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1879 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. Letter to A. S. Wilson, 5 Mar. 1879.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. "To A. S. Wilson, 5 March 1879." The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, edited by Frederick Burkhardt and James A. Secord. Vol. 27: 1879. Cambridge University Press, 2020, no. 11917.

Natural selection will not remove ignorance from future generations.

Richard Dawkins

More information about this quote

Topic

Natural selection Evolution Human nature

Author

Richard Dawkins

Source

The Independent

Medium

Interview Newspaper

Language

English

Time

2006 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dawkins, Richard. "Richard Dawkins: You Ask the Questions Special." The Independent, 4 Dec. 2006.

I had no intention to write atheistically. But I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world.

Charles Darwin

More information about this quote

Topic

Problem of evil

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

Letters of Charles Darwin

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1860 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. Letter to Asa Gray. 22 May 1860.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. Letter to Asa Gray, 22 May [1860]." The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, edited by Frederick Burkhardt and James A. Secord. Vol. 8: 1860. Cambridge University Press, 2022, no. 2814.

I cannot look at the universe as the result of blind chance, yet I can see no evidence of beneficent design, or indeed of design of any kind, in the details.

Charles Darwin

More information about this quote

Topic

Origin of the universe

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

Letters of Charles Darwin

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1870 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. Letter to J. D. Hooker. 12 July 1870.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. "To J. D. Hooker, 12 July 1870." The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, edited by Frederick Burkhardt and James A. Secord. Vol. 18: 1870. Cambridge University Press, 2010, no. 7273.

It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker.

Richard Dawkins

On natural selection.

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More information about this quote

Topic

Natural selection Evolution

Author

Richard Dawkins

Source

The Blind Watchmaker

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1986 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dawkins, Richard. The Blind Watchmaker. Norton & Company, 1986, ch. 1.

If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?

T.H. Huxley

More information about this quote

Topic

Knowledge

Speaker

T.H. Huxley

Source

On Elemental Instruction in Physiology

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1877 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Huxley, Thomas Henry. "On Elemental Instruction in Physiology." 1877. Lecture.