Sunday, December 22, 2024 Text is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 licence.

Kurt Vonnegut

« All quotes from this author
 

Evolution is so creative. That's how we got giraffes.

 
Kurt Vonnegut

» Kurt Vonnegut - all quotes »



Tags: Kurt Vonnegut Quotes, Authors starting by V


Similar quotes

 

I do feel that evolution is being controlled by some sort of divine engineer. I can't help thinking that. And this engineer knows exactly what he or she is doing and why, and where evolution is headed. That’s why we’ve got giraffes and hippopotami and the clap.

 
Kurt Vonnegut
 

Giraffes do use their long necks to browse leaves, at the tops of acacia trees - but such current function, no matter how vital, does not prove that the neck originally evolved for this purpose. The neck may have first lengthened in context of a different use, and then been coopted for better dining when giraffes moved into the open plains. Or the neck may have evolved to perform several functions at once. We cannot learn the reasons for historical origin simply by listing current uses.

 
Stephen Jay Gould
 

The idea of being constructive, creative, positive, in trying to bring out the best in one's own self and the best in others follows from what I've just been saying. Again, I repeat my belief in us, in ourselves, as the product of the process of evolution, and part of the process itself. I think of evolution as an error-making and error-correcting process, and we are constantly learning from experience. It's the need to dedicate one's self in that way, to one's own self, and to choose an activity or life that is of value not only to yourself but to others as well.

 
Jonas Salk
 

In speaking of evolution it is necessary to understand from the outset that no mechanical evolution is possible. The evolution of man is the evolution of his consciousness.

 
G. I. Gurdjieff
 

... the tendency in nature to form wholes that are greater than the sum of the parts through creative evolution ...

 
Jan Christiaan Smuts
© 2009–2013Quotes Privacy Policy | Contact