“ The cloning of humans is on most of the lists of things to worry about from Science, along with behaviour control, genetic engineering, transplanted heads, computer poetry and the unrestrained growth of plastic flowers. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 966
“ Statistically, the probability of any one of us being here is so small that the mere fact of our existence should keep us all in a state of contented dazzlement. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 3.1K
“ The capacity to blunder slightly is the real marvel of DNA. Without this special attribute, we would still be anaerobic bacteria and there would be no music. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 295
“ I am a member of a fragile species, still new to the earth, the youngest creatures of any scale, here only a few moments as evolutionary time is measured, a juvenile species, a child of a species. We are only tentatively set in place, error prone, at risk of fumbling, in real danger at the moment of leaving behind only a thin layer of of our fossils, radioactive at that. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 618
“ The greatest single achievement of nature to date was surely the invention of the molecule DNA. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 1.4K
“ If we were not provided with the knack for being wrong, we could never get anything useful done. We think our way along by choosing between right and wrong alternatives, and the wrong choices have to be made as frequently as the right ones. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 2.4K
“ We should credit [the sky] for what it is: for sheer size and perfection of function, it is far and away the grandest product of collaboration in all of nature. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 3.5K
“ We tend to think of our selves as the only wholly unique creations in nature, but it is not so. Uniqueness is so commonplace it property of living things that there is really nothing at all unique about it. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 448
“ We are, perhaps, uniquely among the earth's creatures, the worrying animal. We worry away our lives, fearing the future, discontent with the present, unable to take in the idea of dying, unable to sit still. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 2.9K
“ Animals have genes for altruism, and those genes have been selected in the evolution of many creatures because of the advantage they confer for the continuing survival of the species. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 1.8K
“ Cats - a standing rebuke to behavioural scientists... least human of all creatures. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 1.1K
“ We are, perhaps, uniquely among the earth's creatures, the worrying animal. We worry away our lives, fearing the future, discontent with the present, unable to take in the idea of dying, unable to sit still. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 2.3K
“ Animals have genes for altruism, and those genes have been selected in the evolution of many creatures because of the advantage they confer for the continuing survival of the species. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 1.7K
“ We are, perhaps, uniquely among the earth's creatures, the worrying animal. We worry away our lives, fearing the future, discontent with the present, unable to take in the idea of dying, unable to sit still. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 2.2K
“ Animals have genes for altruism, and those genes have been selected in the evolution of many creatures because of the advantage they confer for the continuing survival of the species. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 822
“ Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into wars, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves. The families of weaver ants engage in child labor, holding their larvae like shuttles to spin out the thread that sews the leaves together for their fungus gardens… ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 3.6K
“ The cloning of humans is on most of the lists of things to worry about from Science, along with behaviour control, genetic engineering, transplanted heads, computer poetry and the unrestrained growth of plastic flowers. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 320
“ We tend to think of our selves as the only wholly unique creations in nature, but it is not so. Uniqueness is so commonplace it property of living things that there is really nothing at all unique about it. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 3.9K
“ Sometimes you get a glimpse of a semicolon coming, a few lines farther on, and it is like climbing a steep path through woods and seeing a wooden bench just at a bend in the road ahead, a place where you can expect to sit for a moment, catching your breath. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
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“ When committees gather, each member is necessarily an actor, uncontrollably acting out the part of himself, reading the lines that identify him, asserting his identity. We are designed, coded, it seems, to place the highest priority on being individuals, and we must do this first, at whatever cost, even if it means disability for the group. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 1K
“ Animals have genes for altruism, and those genes have been selected in the evolution of many creatures because of the advantage they confer for the continuing survival of the species. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 86
“ Animals have genes for altruism, and those genes have been selected in the evolution of many creatures because of the advantage they confer for the continuing survival of the species. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 950
“ We are, perhaps, uniquely among the earth's creatures, the worrying animal. We worry away our lives, fearing the future, discontent with the present, unable to take in the idea of dying, unable to sit still. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 1.6K
“ The act of smelling something, anything, is remarkably like the act of thinking. Immediately at the moment of perception, you can feel the mind going to work, sending the odor around from place to place, setting off complex repertories through the brain, polling one center after another for signs of recognition, for old memories and old connection. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 3.7K
“ The cloning of humans is on most of the lists of things to worry about from Science, along with behaviour control, genetic engineering, transplanted heads, computer poetry and the unrestrained growth of plastic flowers. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 2.2K
“ Human language... prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 1.7K
“ The cloning of humans is on most of the lists of things to worry about from Science, along with behaviour control, genetic engineering, transplanted heads, computer poetry and the unrestrained growth of plastic flowers. ”
- Lewis Thomas- Copy
- 3.7K
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