“The three laws of behavioral genetics may be the most important discoveries in the history of psychology. Yet most psychologists have not come to grips with them, and most intellectuals do not understand them …. Here are the three laws:”
The First Law. All human behavioral traits are heritable.
The Second Law. The effect of being raised in the same family is smaller than the effect of genes.
The Third Law. A substantial portion of the variation in complex human behavioral traits is not accounted for by the effects of genes or families.
Kindle locations 8005, 8010.
The Blank Slate (2002)
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Steven Pinker 33
psychologist, linguist, author 1954Related quotes

“"Reverence for parents" stands written among the three laws of most revered righteousness.”
Source: The Suppliants, line 707; alternately reported with "Honour thy father and thy mother" in place of "Reverence for parents", in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Speech to the Massachusetts State Senate http://friesian.com/ross/ca40/2002.htm#war (7 January 1914).
1910s, Speech to the Massachusetts State Senate (1914)

Variant: This may be the most important proposition revealed by history: At the time, no one knew what was coming.
Source: 1Q84

“…three of life's most important areas: work, love, and taking responsibility.”
From The Wolf-man and Sigmund Freud Muriel Gardiner, p. 365 (cf. books.google.com http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Wolf_Man_and_Sigmund_Freud.html?id=TJoC54vuCmwC)
Attributed from posthumous publications

Lecture II, section 35
The Eagle's Nest (1872)

Einstein's Legacy: The Unity of Space and Time (2002) p. 2

“And what is the most important leg of a three-legged stool? The one that is missing, of course.”
Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Falling Free (1988), Chapter 14 (p. 276)

On Practice (1937)