597 Quotes About Biology

To your biology, survival of your genes is more important than accomplishment of your dreams.

In contrast to an object or a machine, a body regularly splits off a part of itself in order to survive and incorporates a piece of the foreign world into itself. This is precisely why it is wrong to compare a life-form with a machine: A machine does not metabolize. The fuel that I put into the tank burns but does not transform itself into another body.

Human purpose isn't what you say it is or what I say it is. It's what your biology says it is--what your genes say it is.

Biology is only the best hint as to what was functional in the past but not necessarily about what will be in the future. The most empowering question we can ask about the future is not “What is the future and how do we adapt?” but “How do we want our future to be and how do we adapt?

Science has become the most democratic of all human endeavors. It is neither religion nor ideology. It makes no claims beyond what can be sensed in the real world. It generates knowledge in the most productive and unifying manner contrived in history, and it serves humanity without obeisance to any particular tribal deity.

From the freedom to explore comes the joy of learning. From knowledge acquired by personal initiative arises the desire for more knowledge. And from mastery of the novel and beautiful world awaiting every child comes self-confidence. The growth of a naturalist is like the growth of a musician or athlete: excellence for the talented, lifelong enjoyment for the rest, benefit for humanity.

Honestly, I sometimes wonder if humans are any more efficient than the mighty oak tree that drops thousands of acorns year after year in the desperate attempt to create one or two saplings.

Mechanism and function are the eternal yin and yang of biology: they interact and intertwine, yet there is no greater sin than confusing the two.

Spirit can't exist without matter and matter can't grow without spirit.