“All we know of the truth is that the absolute truth, such as it is, is beyond our reach.”
De Docta Ignorantia (On Learned Ignorance) (1440)
“Maybe altruism is our most primitive attribute out of reach, beyond our control.”
"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.
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Lewis Thomas 31
American physician, poet and educator 1913–1993Related quotes
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“Here we are reaching out for aliens
Looking for our salvation.
Pity our emptiness
Save our souls.”
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Context: We are the number one offender
Of specieism and yet
Here we are reaching out for aliens
Looking for our salvation.
Pity our emptiness
Save our souls.
