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Lewis Thomas Quotes

In the fields I know best, among the life sciences, it is required that the most expert and sophisticated minds be capable of changing course - often with a great lurch - every few years Picture Quote #1

I won’t compare ants and people, but ants give us a useful model of how single members of a community can become so organized that they end up resembling, in effect, one big collective brain. Our own exploding population and communication technology are leading us that way Picture Quote #1

It’s just plain learning something that you didn’t know. There is a real aesthetic experience in being dumbfounded Picture Quote #1

We are not like the social insects. They have only the one way of doing things and they will do it forever, coded for that way. We are coded differently, not just for binary choices, go or no-go. We can go four ways at once, depending on how the air feels: go, no-go, but also maybe, plus what the hell let’s give it a try Picture Quote #1

Selfness is an essential fact of life. The thought of nonselfness, precise sameness is terrifying Picture Quote #1

Most things get better by themselves. Most things, in fact, are better by morning Picture Quote #1

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For total greed, rapacity, heartlessness, and irresponsibility there is nothing to match a nation Picture Quote #1

The great secret of medicine, known to doctors but still hidden from the public, is that most things get better by themselves Picture Quote #1

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 Picture Quote #1

Our behavior toward each other is the strangest, most unpredictable, and most unaccountable of all the phenomena with which we are obliged to live. In all of nature, there is nothing so threatening to humanity as humanity itself Picture Quote #1

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 Picture Quote #1

Very few recognize science as the high adventure it really is, the wildest of all explorations ever taken by human beings, the chance to glimpse things never seen before, the shrewdest maneuver for discovering how the world works Picture Quote #1

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Much of today's public anxiety about science is the apprehension that we may forever be overlooking the whole by an endless, obsessive preoccupation with the parts Picture Quote #1

Statistically, the probability of any of us being here is so small that you’d think the mere fact of existing would keep us all in contented dazzlement of surprise Picture Quote #1

The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand Picture Quote #1

Worrying is the most natural and spontaneous of all human functions. It is time to acknowledge this, perhaps even to learn to do it better Picture Quote #1

Our behavior toward each other is the strangest, most unpredictable, and almost entirely unaccountable of all the phenomena with which we are obliged to live Picture Quote #1

It begins to look, more and more disturbingly, as if the gift of language is the single human trait that marks us all genetically, setting us apart from all the rest of life Picture Quote #1

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If we have learned anything at all in this century, it is that all new technologies will be put to use, sooner or later, for better or worse, as it is in our nature to do Picture Quote #1

It is my belief, based partly on personal experience but partly also arrived at by looking around at others, that childhood lasts considerably longer in the males of our species than in the females Picture Quote #1

I agree that you might clone some people who would look amazingly like their parental cell donors, but the odds are that they’d be almost as different as you or me, and certainly more different than any of today’s identical twins Picture Quote #1

Things are bound to begin happening if you’ve got your wits about you. You create the lucky accidents Picture Quote #1

We spend our time sending messages to each other, talking and trying to listen at the same time, exchanging information. This seems to be our most urgent biological function; it is what we do with our lives Picture Quote #1

If you want to use a cliche you must take full responsibility for it yourself and not try to fob it off on anon., or on society Picture Quote #1

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It is from the progeny of this parent cell that we all take our looks; we still share genes around, and the resemblance of the enzymes of grasses to those of whales is in fact a family resemblance Picture Quote #1

Survival, in the cool economics of biology, means simply the persistence of one’s own genes in the generations to follow Picture Quote #1

The central task of science is to arrive, stage by stage, at a clearer comprehension of nature, but this does not at all mean, as it is sometimes claimed to mean, a search for mastery over nature Picture Quote #1

The great secret of doctors, known only to their wives, but still hidden from the public, is that most things get better by themselves; most things, in fact, are better in the morning Picture Quote #1

The most solid piece of scientific truth I know of is that we are profoundly ignorant about nature Picture Quote #1

It hurts the spirit, somehow, to read the word environments, when the plural means that there are so many alternatives there to be sorted through, as in a market, and voted on Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

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Text Quotes

In the fields I know best, among the life sciences, it is required that the most expert and sophisticated minds be capable of changing course - often with a great lurch - every few years. (Lewis Thomas Quotes) I won’t compare ants and people, but ants give us a useful model of how single members of a community can become so organized that they end up resembling, in effect, one big collective brain. Our own exploding population and communication technology are leading us that way. (Lewis Thomas Quotes) It’s just plain learning something that you didn’t know. There is a real aesthetic experience in being dumbfounded. (Lewis Thomas Quotes) We are not like the social insects. They have only the one way of doing things and they will do it forever, coded for that way. We are coded differently, not just for binary choices, go or no-go. We can go four ways at once, depending on how the air feels: go, no-go, but also maybe, plus what the hell let’s give it a try. (Lewis Thomas Quotes) Selfness is an essential fact of life. The thought of nonselfness, precise sameness is terrifying (Lewis Thomas Quotes) Most things get better by themselves. Most things, in fact, are better by morning (Lewis Thomas Quotes) For total greed, rapacity, heartlessness, and irresponsibility there is nothing to match a nation (Lewis Thomas Quotes) The great secret of medicine, known to doctors but still hidden from the public, is that most things get better by themselves (Lewis Thomas Quotes) 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 Quotes) Our behavior toward each other is the strangest, most unpredictable, and most unaccountable of all the phenomena with which we are obliged to live. In all of nature, there is nothing so threatening to humanity as humanity itself (Lewis Thomas Quotes) 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 Quotes) Very few recognize science as the high adventure it really is, the wildest of all explorations ever taken by human beings, the chance to glimpse things never seen before, the shrewdest maneuver for discovering how the world works (Lewis Thomas Quotes) Much of today's public anxiety about science is the apprehension that we may forever be overlooking the whole by an endless, obsessive preoccupation with the parts (Lewis Thomas Quotes) Statistically, the probability of any of us being here is so small that you’d think the mere fact of existing would keep us all in contented dazzlement of surprise (Lewis Thomas Quotes) The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand (Lewis Thomas Quotes) Worrying is the most natural and spontaneous of all human functions. It is time to acknowledge this, perhaps even to learn to do it better (Lewis Thomas Quotes) Our behavior toward each other is the strangest, most unpredictable, and almost entirely unaccountable of all the phenomena with which we are obliged to live (Lewis Thomas Quotes) It begins to look, more and more disturbingly, as if the gift of language is the single human trait that marks us all genetically, setting us apart from all the rest of life (Lewis Thomas Quotes) If we have learned anything at all in this century, it is that all new technologies will be put to use, sooner or later, for better or worse, as it is in our nature to do (Lewis Thomas Quotes) It is my belief, based partly on personal experience but partly also arrived at by looking around at others, that childhood lasts considerably longer in the males of our species than in the females (Lewis Thomas Quotes) I agree that you might clone some people who would look amazingly like their parental cell donors, but the odds are that they’d be almost as different as you or me, and certainly more different than any of today’s identical twins (Lewis Thomas Quotes) Things are bound to begin happening if you’ve got your wits about you. You create the lucky accidents (Lewis Thomas Quotes) We spend our time sending messages to each other, talking and trying to listen at the same time, exchanging information. This seems to be our most urgent biological function; it is what we do with our lives (Lewis Thomas Quotes) If you want to use a cliche you must take full responsibility for it yourself and not try to fob it off on anon., or on society (Lewis Thomas Quotes) It is from the progeny of this parent cell that we all take our looks; we still share genes around, and the resemblance of the enzymes of grasses to those of whales is in fact a family resemblance (Lewis Thomas Quotes) Survival, in the cool economics of biology, means simply the persistence of one’s own genes in the generations to follow (Lewis Thomas Quotes) The central task of science is to arrive, stage by stage, at a clearer comprehension of nature, but this does not at all mean, as it is sometimes claimed to mean, a search for mastery over nature (Lewis Thomas Quotes) The great secret of doctors, known only to their wives, but still hidden from the public, is that most things get better by themselves; most things, in fact, are better in the morning (Lewis Thomas Quotes) The most solid piece of scientific truth I know of is that we are profoundly ignorant about nature (Lewis Thomas Quotes) It hurts the spirit, somehow, to read the word environments, when the plural means that there are so many alternatives there to be sorted through, as in a market, and voted on (Lewis Thomas Quotes)

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