Quotes by Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

“Money is the apogee of human tolerance. Money is more open-minded than language, state laws, cultural codes, religious beliefs and social habits. Money is the only trust system created by humans th...”

“We believe in a particular order not because it is objectively true, but because believing in it enables us to cooperate effectively and forge a better society. Imagined orders are not evil conspir...”

“So why study history? Unlike physics or economics, history is not a means for making accurate predictions. We study history not to know the future but to widen our horizons, to understand that our ...”

“Consistency is the playground of dull minds”

“Why is English so widespread today, and not Danish?”

“Patriarchy has been the normal in almost all agricultural and industrial societies. ...If patriarchy in Afro-Asia resulted from some chance occurrence, why were the Aztecs and Incas patriarchal? It...”

“There are no gods, no nations, no money and no human rights, except in our collective imagination.”

“Buddhism does not deny the existence of godsthey are described as powerful beings who can bring rains and victoriesbut they have no influence on the law that suffering arises from craving. If the m...”

“The currency of evolution is neither hunger nor pain, but rather copies of DNA helixes”

“Romantic literature often presents the individual as somebody caught in a struggle against the state and the market. Nothing could be further from the truth. The state and the market are the mother...”

“That spectacular leap from the middle to the top had enormous consequences.Other animals at the top of the pyramid, such as lions and sharks, evolved intothat position very gradually, over millions...”

“Archaic humans paid for their large brains in two ways. Firstly, they spentmore time in search of food. Secondly, their muscles atrophied. Like a governmentdiverting money from defence to education...”

“As far as we can tell from a purely scientific viewpoint, human life has absolutely no meaning. Humans are the outcome of blind evolutionary processes that operate without goal or purpose. Our acti...”

“Buddhism does not deny the existence of gods—they are described as powerful beings who can bring rains and victories—but they have no influence on the law that suffering arises from craving. If the...”