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Yuval Noah Harari Quotes

born 1976 Israel

Yuval Noah Harari (Hebrew: יובל נח הררי; born 24 February 1976) is an Israeli professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind.

Israel
Academics
Historians
Philosophers

Also known as: Yuval Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Random Yuval Noah Harari quote

191 quotes

religion has been the third great unifier of humankind, alongside money and empire.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

exact science - defined as 'exact' by their use of mathematical tools.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

Money has been essential both for building empires and for promoting science. Neither modern armies nor university laboratories can be sustained without banks.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

The most important secular commitment is to the truth, which is based on observation and evidence rather than on mere faith. Seculars strive not to confuse truth with belief.

Christians began organising widespread missionary activities aimed at all humans. In one of history's strangest twists, this esoteric Jewish sect took over the mighty Roman Empire.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

When Constantine assumed the throne in 306, Christianity was little more than an esoteric Eastern sect.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

The dog was the first animal domesticated by Homo sapiens, and this occurred before the Agricultural Revolution.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

Sapiens did not forage only for food and materials. They foraged for knowledge as well.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

Throughout most of history, mathematics was an esoteric field that even educated people rarely studied seriously.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

Biologists have since debunked Nazi racial theory. In particular, genetic research conducted after 1945 has demonstrated that the differences between the various human lineages are far smaller than the Nazi postulated.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

Mere observations, however, are not knowledge. In order to understand the universe, we need to connect observations into comprehensive theories. Earlier traditions usually formulated their theories in terms of stories. Modern science uses mathematics.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

Germans believe in the existence of a German nation, get excited at the sight of German national symbols, retell German national myths, and are willing to sacrifice money, time and limbs for the German nation, Germany will remain one of the strongest powers of the world.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

Scientists studying the inner workings of the human organism have found no soul there. They increasingly argue that human behaviour is determined by hormones, genes and synapses, rather than free will - the same forces that determine the behaviour of chimpanzees, wolves and ants.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

No other animal [Homo sapiens] had ever moved into such a huge variety of habitats so quickly.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

Every large scale human system is based on... mythology and bureaucracy.

The Collapse of Truth (2025)

the Scientific Revolution might prove itself far greater than a mere historical revolution. It may turn out to be the most important bological revolution since the appearance of life on earth.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

There is nothing new about biological engineering per se. People have been using it for millennia...

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

scholars usually distinguish between 'sex', which is a biological category, and 'gender', a cultural category.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

Planet Earth was separated into several ecosystems, each made up of a unique assembly of animals and plants. Homo sapiens was about to put an end to this biological exuberance.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

In laboratories throughout the world, scientists are engineering living beings. They break the laws of natural selection with impunity, unbridled even by an organism's original characteristics.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Yuval Noah Harari (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.