“Evolution made civilization steward of this planet. A hundred thousand years later, the steward stood before evolution not helper but destroyer, not healer but parasite. So evolution withdrew its gift, passed civilization by, rescued the planet from intelligence and handed it to Love.”

—  Richard Bach

One (1988)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Evolution made civilization steward of this planet. A hundred thousand years later, the steward stood before evolution …" by Richard Bach?
Richard Bach photo
Richard Bach 154
American spiritual writer 1936

Related quotes

Marilyn Ferguson photo
Ursula Goodenough photo
Julian Huxley photo

“Whether he likes it or not, he is responsible for the whole further evolution of our planet.”

Julian Huxley (1887–1975) English biologist, philosopher, author

The New Divinity (1964)
Context: This earth is one of the rare spots in the cosmos where mind has flowered. Man is a product of nearly three billion years of evolution, in whose person the evolutionary process has at last become conscious of itself and its possibilities. Whether he likes it or not, he is responsible for the whole further evolution of our planet.

Georges Lemaître photo
Daniel Abraham photo

“Everything was an artifact of its function. That’s what made evolution so gorgeous.”

Daniel Abraham (1969) speculative fiction writer from the United States

Source: Cibola Burn (2014), Chapter 6 (p. 64)

Ron English photo

“Evolution’s the gift that keeps on giving.”

Ron English (1959) American artist

Ron English's Fauxlosophy (2016)

Henry Adams photo

“That, two thousand years after Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, a man like Grant should be called — and should actually and truly be — the highest product of the most advanced evolution, made evolution ludicrous. One must be as commonplace as Grant's own commonplaces to maintain such an absurdity. The progress of evolution from President Washington to President Grant, was alone evidence enough to upset Darwin.”

Henry Adams (1838–1918) journalist, historian, academic, novelist

The Education of Henry Adams (1907)
Context: What worried Adams was not the commonplace; it was, as usual, his own education. Grant fretted and irritated him, like the Terebratula, as a defiance of first principles. He had no right to exist. He should have been extinct for ages. The idea that, as society grew older, it grew one-sided, upset evolution, and made of education a fraud. That, two thousand years after Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, a man like Grant should be called — and should actually and truly be — the highest product of the most advanced evolution, made evolution ludicrous. One must be as commonplace as Grant's own commonplaces to maintain such an absurdity. The progress of evolution from President Washington to President Grant, was alone evidence enough to upset Darwin.

Kent Hovind photo
Julian Huxley photo

“As a result of a thousand million years of evolution, the universe is becoming conscious of itself, able to understand something of its past history and its possible future.”

Julian Huxley (1887–1975) English biologist, philosopher, author

Transhumanism (1957)
Context: As a result of a thousand million years of evolution, the universe is becoming conscious of itself, able to understand something of its past history and its possible future. This cosmic self-awareness is being realized in one tiny fragment of the universe — in a few of us human beings. Perhaps it has been realized elsewhere too, through the evolution of conscious living creatures on the planets of other stars. But on this our planet, it has never happened before.

Richard Dawkins photo

Related topics