If the misery of our poor be caused not... by Stephen Jay Gould | We Heart Quotes

Author Science scientist Evolution Paleontologist

If the misery of our poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.

- Stephen Jay Gould

Other quotes by Stephen Jay Gould

The authors of recent studies on spotted hyena have found that males and females are so similar that their sex can only be determined reliably by palpation of the scrotum.

- Stephen Jay Gould

Needs

The more important the subject and the closer it cuts to the bone of our hopes and needs, the more we are likely to err in establishing a framework for analysis.

- Stephen Jay Gould

Evolution

Creationist critics often charge that evolution cannot be tested, and therefore cannot be viewed as a properly scientific subject at all. This claim is rhetorical nonsense.

- Stephen Jay Gould

We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures; because the earth never froze entirely during an ice age; because a small and tenuous species, arising in Africa a quarter of a million years ago, has managed, so far, to survive by hook and by crook. We may yearn for a ‘higher answer’ – but none exists.

- Stephen Jay Gould

Intelligence is too complex and multifaceted a thing to reduce to any single dimension.

- Stephen Jay Gould

Skepticism is the agent of reason against organized irrationalism – and is therefore one of the keys to human social and civic decency.

- Stephen Jay Gould

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