104 quotes
It underscores yet again the fact that what we call personality is to a considerable degree a question of brain chemistry.
Genome (1999)
Genes are recipes for both anatomy and behaviour.
Genome (1999)
All rules have exceptions (including this one).
Genome (1999)
If reproduction has been the reward and goal of power and wealth, then it is little wonder that it has also been a frequent cause and rewarding of violence.
The Red Queen (1993)
In egalitarian societies, genes matter more.
Genome (1999)
Wherever you look in the historical record, the elites favored sons more than other classes….Lower down the social scale, daughters are preferred even today.
The Red Queen (1993)
It is hardly surprising to find that the males best at seduction tend to be the best at other things as well; it does not prove that females are seeking good genes for their offspring.
The Red Queen (1993)
These two processes—linguistic philology and genetic phylogeny—are converging upon a common theme: the history of human migrations.
Genome (1999)
Sexual selection, as we have seen, is very different from natural selection in its effects, for it does not solve survival problems, it makes them worse.
The Red Queen (1993)
Morality is never based upon nature.
The Red Queen (1993)
Humanity shares this profile of ardent, polygamist males and coy, faithful females with about 99 percent of all animal species, including our closest relatives, the apes.
The Red Queen (1993)
Females choose; their choosiness is inherited; they prefer exaggerated ornaments; exaggerated ornaments are a burden to males. That much is now uncontroversial. Thus far Darwin was right.
The Red Queen (1993)
These facts have been first disputed and then actively suppressed by the educational establishment, which continues to insist that there are no differences in learning ability between boys and girls.
The Red Queen (1993)
Reproducing sexually must improve an individual’s reproductive success or else sex would not persist. It is increasingly hard to understand how human beings came to be so clever without considering sexual competition.
The Red Queen (1993)
I think knowledge is a blessing, not a curse. This is especially true in the case of genetic knowledge.
Genome (1999)
Yet the myth persists that genetic determinism is a more implacable kind of fate than social determinism.
Genome (1999)
Nobody doubts that genes can shape anatomy. The idea that they also shape behaviour takes a lot more swallowing.
Genome (1999)
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.
Genome (1999)
If you still thought evolution was about the good of the species, stop thinking so right now.
Genome (1999)
This interaction of genetic and external influences makes my behaviour unpredictable, but not undetermined.
Genome (1999)