“Only human beings guide their behaviour by a knowledge of what happened before they were born and a preconception of what may happen after they are dead; thus only humans find their way by a light that illuminates more than the patch of ground they stand on.”

—  Peter Medawar

(with Jean Medawar) The Life Science, 1977
1970s

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 "Only human beings guide their behaviour by a knowledge of what happened before they were born and a preconception of wh…" by Peter Medawar?
Peter Medawar photo
Peter Medawar 40
scientist 1915–1987

Related quotes

Cesar Millan photo

“Denial, they say, stands for"Don't even notice I am lying." Human beings are the only animals who are happily lied to by our own minds about what is actually happening around us.”

Cesar Millan (1969) Mexican - American dog trainer and television personality

Source: Be the Pack Leader: Use Cesar's Way to Transform Your Dog . . . and Your Life

Rousas John Rushdoony photo

“If the law is set aside, the humanistic amoral ethics of love then takes over. And then you have total humanism. The only consideration becomes the human being, and this is what has happened with the theologians.”

Rousas John Rushdoony (1916–2001) American theologian

Audio lectures, Homosexuality (n. d.)

Fernando Pessoa photo

“What would happen to the world if we were human?”

Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet

Ibid., p. 259
The Book of Disquiet
Original: Que seria do mundo se fôssemos humanos?

Lev Shestov photo

“What can be more terrible than not to know whether one is alive or dead? “Justice” should insist that this knowledge or this ignorance should be the prerogative of every human being.”

Lev Shestov (1866–1938) Russian theologian

Source: In Job's Balances: on the sources of the eternal truths, The Conquest of the Self-Evident; Dostoievsky’s Philosophy p. 3

Orson Scott Card photo

“It made me wonder if perhaps our ancestors' crimes were not in fact far more terrible than they claimed. After all, the only histories we possessed told their version of what happened, and in their accounts they were completely innocent.”

Orson Scott Card (1951) American science fiction novelist

Treason (1988)

Willa Cather photo

“There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before”

Willa Cather book O Pioneers!

Part II, Ch. 4
O Pioneers! (1913)
Context: There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years.

George Raymond Richard Martin photo

“I'm not an "American First" (and maybe because I read science fiction) I'm a "Terran First". I'm a human being first. And I have this sympathy for other human beings no matter what side of the giant ice wall they happen to be born on.”

George Raymond Richard Martin (1948) American writer, screenwriter and television producer

At Tuscon 43 http://dndjourneyofthefifthedition.podbean.com/e/tuscon-43-an-hour-with-george-r-r-martin/ (2016)

Douglas Adams photo

“Gordon Way's astonishment at being suddenly shot dead was nothing compared to his astonishment at what happened next.”

Douglas Adams book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Source: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Chittaranjan Das photo

“I appeal to you, therefore, that a man like this stands not only before the bar of this court, but stands before the bar of the high court of History… Long after this controversy is hushed in silence, long after this turmoil and this agitation ceases, long after he is dead and gone, he will be looked upon as the poet of patriotism, as the prophet of nationalism and the lover of humanity. Long after he is dead and gone his words will be echoed and re-echoed not only in India but across distant seas and lands.”

Chittaranjan Das (1870–1925) Indian politician and leader of the Swaraj Party

Speech in defence of Aurobindo Ghosh in the Maincktala Bomb Case. The judgement was issued in 1909. Quoted by Dr. Nitish Sengupta in his “History of the Bengali-speaking People.”
Legal

Ransom Riggs photo

“When I was fifteen, an extraordinary and terrible thing happened, and there was only Before and After.”

Ransom Riggs book Miss Peregrine's Home of Peculiar Children

Prologue, Page 18
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2011)

Related topics