Stephen Jay Gould

Evolution is one of the two or three most primally fascinating subjects in all the sciences. ↗

— Stephen Jay Gould

#fascinating #most #sciences #subjects #three

I don't think academic writing ever was wonderful. However, science used to be much less specialized. ↗

— Stephen Jay Gould

#ever #however #i #less #much

I dreamed of becoming a scientist, in general, and a paleontologist, in particular, ever since the Tyrannosaurus skeleton awed and scared me. ↗

— Stephen Jay Gould

#becoming #dreamed #ever #general #i

I love the wry motto of the Paleontological Society, meant both literally and figuratively, for hammers are the main tool of our trade: Frango ut patefaciam - I break in order to reveal. ↗

— Stephen Jay Gould

#break #figuratively #hammers #i #i love

When people learn no tools of judgment and merely follow their hopes, the seeds of political manipulation are sown. ↗

— Stephen Jay Gould

#hopes #judgment #learn #manipulation #merely

Life began three and a half billion years ago, necessarily about as simple as it could be, because life arose spontaneously from the organic compounds in the primeval oceans. ↗

— Stephen Jay Gould

#ago #arose #because #began #billion

Science is an integral part of culture. It's not this foreign thing, done by an arcane priesthood. It's one of the glories of the human intellectual tradition. ↗

— Stephen Jay Gould

#culture #done #foreign #glories #human

Science is not a heartless pursuit of objective information. It is a creative human activity, its geniuses acting more as artists than as information processors. ↗

— Stephen Jay Gould

#activity #artists #creative #geniuses #heartless

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

#bone #closer #cuts #err #establishing

The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best - and therefore never scrutinize or question. ↗

— Stephen Jay Gould

#erroneous #know #most #never #question