Quotes by George Gaylord Simpson

“The question What is man? is probably the most profound that can be asked by man. It has always been central to any system of philosophy or theology. The point I want to make now is that all attemp...”

“If I didn't fear I'd do you harm...I'd try to make you an atheist. I really do think that you are a deluded follower of mistaken and superstitious and cowardly theories. That's as far as I'll go......”

“Man is the result of a purposeless and natural process that did not have him in mind.”

“To put it crudely but graphically, the monkey who did not have a realistic perception of the tree branch he jumped for was soon a dead monkeyand therefore did not become one of our ancestors.”

“Among the things most characteristic of organisms--most distinctive of living as opposed to inorganic systems--is a sort of directedness. Their structures and activities have an adaptedness, an evi...”

“I don't think that evolution is supremely important because it is my specialty; it is my specialty because I think it is supremely important. [In: Edward J. Larson (2004) Evolution, Modern Library....”

“The greatest impact of the Darwinian revolution...was that it completed the liberation from superstition and fear that began in the physical sciences a few centuries before. Man, too, is a natural ...”

“Man has risen, not fallen. He can choose to develop his capacities as the highest animal and to try to rise still farther, or he can choose otherwise. The choice is his responsibility, and his alon...”

“Over and over again in the study of the history of life it appears that what can happen does happen. There is little suggestion that what occurs must occur, that it was fated or that it follows som...”

“[Darwin] gave an answer to the tremendous question that so deeply concerns...What is Man? [He] answered this question to the effect that man is a natural product of the universe;...man is an animal...”

“Man is a glorious and unique species of animal. The species originated by evolution.... Future evolution could raise man to superb heights as yet hardly glimpsed, but it will not automatically do s...”

“If a sect does officially insist that its structure of belief demands that evolution be false, then no compromise is possible. An honest and competent biology teacher can only conclude that the sec...”

“Species evolve exactly as if they were adapting as best they could to a changing world, and not at all as if they were moving toward a set goal.”

“From horses we may learn not only about the horse itself but also about animals in general, indeed about ourselves and about life as a whole.”

“The conflict between science and religion has a single and simple cause. It is the designation as religiously canonical of any conception of the material world open to scientific investigation....A...”

“The question “What is man?” is probably the most profound that can be asked by man. It has always been central to any system of philosophy or theology…. The point I want to make now is that all att...”

“Exobiology - a curious development in view of the fact that this science has yet to demonstrate that its subject matter exists!”

“It is another aphorism that no ones knows everything about anything. That need not dull the pleasure and fascination of the fact that a great deal is known about some things.”