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.

Cats - a standing rebuke to behavioural scientists . . . least human of all creatures.

...the life of the planet began the long, slow process of modulating and regulating the physical conditions of the planet. The oxygen in today's atmosphere is almost entirely the result of photosynthetic living, which had its start with the appearance of blue-green algae among the microorganisms.

All of today's DNA, strung through all the cells of the earth, is simply an extension and elaboration of [the] first molecule.

Animals have genes for altruism, and those genes have been selected in the evolution of many creatures because of the advantage they confer for the continuing survival of the species.

The uniformity of the earth's life, more astonishing than its diversity, is accountable by the high probability that we derived, originally, from some single cell, fertilized in a bolt of lightning as the earth cooled. It is from the progeny of this parent cell that we take our looks; we still share genes around, and the resemblance of the enzymes of grasses to those of whales is a family resemblance.

The greatest of all the accomplishments of 20th century science has been the discovery of human ignorance

It is in our genes to understand the universe if we can, to keep trying even if we cannot, and to be enchanted by the act of learning all the way.