"The Tucson Zoo", p. 10
The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher (1979)
Context: Maybe altruism is our most primitive attribute out of reach, beyond our control. Or perhaps it is immediately at hand, waiting to be released, disguised now, in our kind of civilization as affection or friendship or attachment. I can’t see why it should be unreasonable for all human beings to have strands of DNA coiled up in chromosomes, coding out instincts for usefulness and helpfulness. Usefulness may turn out to be the hardest test of fitness for survival, more important than aggression, more effective, in the long run, than grabbiness.
“It's hard to decide who's truly brilliant; it's easier to see who's driven, which in the long run may be more important.”
Source: Congo
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Michael Crichton 121
American author, screenwriter, film producer 1942–2008Related quotes

As quoted in The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll (1898) p. 55

The Labour Case (Penguin, 1959), p. 146
1950s

“The man who runs may fight again.”
Variant translation: The man who runs away will fight again.
Monosticha.

“And it's hard to say
Who you are these days.
But you run on anyway,
Don't you baby?”
Saving Grace
Lyrics, Highway Companion (2006)

Adam Vetulani. 1901–1976. Kraków: Polish Acadcemy of Learning, 2005, p. 77.