Quotes from book
Genome

Matt Ridley
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“Genes are recipes for both anatomy and behaviour.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 2 “Species” (p. 37)

Matt Ridley photo

“In other words, a record of our past is etched into our genes.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 2 “Species” (p. 35)

Matt Ridley photo

“Human beings are of course unique. They have, perched between their ears, the most complicated biological machine on the planet. But complexity is not everything, and it is not the goal of evolution. Every species on the planet is unique. Uniqueness is a commodity in oversupply.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 2 “Species” (p. 25)

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“The pope notwithstanding, the human species is by no means the pinnacle of evolution. Evolution has no pinnacle and there is no such thing as evolutionary progress.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 2 “Species” (p. 24)

Matt Ridley photo

“Life consists of the interplay of two kinds of chemicals: proteins and DNA.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 1 “Life” (p. 17)

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“Human beings accumulate about one hundred mutations per generation.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Introduction (p. 10)
Genome (1999)

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“Almost everything in the body, from hair to hormones, is either made of proteins or made by them.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Introduction (p. 9)
Genome (1999)

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“I think knowledge is a blessing, not a curse. This is especially true in the case of genetic knowledge.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Foreward (p. 3)
Genome (1999)

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“At its birth eugenics was not a politicised science; it was a science-ised political creed.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 21 “Eugenics” (p. 288)

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“The genome is littered, one might almost say clogged, with the equivalent of computer viruses, selfish, parasitic stretches of letters which exist for the pure and simple reason that they are good at getting themselves duplicated. We are full of digital chain letters and warnings about marmalade.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 8 “Self-Interest” (p. 127)

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“Sexual relations are driven not by what is good, in evolutionary terms, for men or for women, but for their chromosomes. The ability to seduce a woman was good for Y chromosomes in the past; the ability to resist seduction by a man was good for X chromosomes in the past.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter X and Y “Conflict” (p. 115)