158 quotes
Until the Scentific Revolution most human cultures did not believe in progress... the golden age was... past,... the world... stagnant, if not deteriorating.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
Unlike the laws of physics... every man-made order is packed with internal contradictions. Cultures are constantly trying to reconcile these contradictions, and this... fuels change.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
When sputnik and Apollo 11 fired the imagination... everyone began predicting that by the end of the century, people will be living... on Mars and Pluto. ...[N]obody foresaw the Internet.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
Scientists... have found no soul... They... argue... human behaviour is determined by hormones, genes and synapses, rather than free will ― the... forces that determine... [animal] behaviour...
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
The first commercial train service began operating between Liverpool and Manchester in 1830.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
Buddha’s recommendation was to stop... the pursuit of external achievements, but also the pursuit of inner feelings.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
The followers of Christ and... Allah killed each other by the thousands, devastated fields and orchards, and turned prosperous cities into smouldering ruins...
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
The greatness of Newton's theory was its ability to explain and predict the movement of all bodies... from falling apples to shooting stars, using three simple mathematical laws.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
[T]he burgeoning new society of America were to be divided into a ruling caste of white Europeans and a subjected class of black Africans.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
These [polytheistic] religions understood the world to be controlled by... powerful gods... Humans could appeal to these... to bring rain, victory... health.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
The first monotheist religion known... appeared in Egypt, c.1350 BC, when Pharaoh Akhenaten declared... one of the minor deties... Aten... supreme power ruling the universe.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
American plantations in places such as Virginia, Haiti and Brazil were plunged by malaria and yellow fever, which had originated in Africa. Africans had acquired over the generations a partial genetic immunity to these diseases.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
He (Gautama Buddha) encapsulated his teachings in a single law: suffering arises from craving; the only way to be fully liberated from suffering is to be fully liberated from craving; and the only way to be liberated from craving is to train the mind to experience reality as it is.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
Myths and fictions accustomed people, nearly from the moment of birth, to think in certain ways, to believe in accordance with certain standards, to want certain things, and to observe certain rules. They thereby create artificial instincts that enable millions of strangers to cooperate effectively. This network of artificial instinct is called 'Culture'.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
Most of the infectious diseases that have plagued agricultural and industrial societies (such as smallpox, measles and tuberculosis) originated in domestic animals and were transferred to humans only after the Agricultural Revolution.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
One of history's few iron laws is that luxuries tend to become necessities and to spawn new obligations. Once people get used to a certain luxury, they take it for granted. Then they begin to count on it. Finally, they reach a point where they can't live without it.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
In the late nineteenth century... [~]40 million Chinese, a tenth of the... population, were opium addicts.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
The capitalist and consumerist ethics are... a merger of commandments. The... rich... 'Invest!' The... rest... 'Buy!'
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
Today... there is an irresistible urge to study the exact sciences - defined... 'exact' by their... mathematical tools.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)
Columbus's fleet... of three small ships manned by 120 sailors... was like a trio of mosquitoes compared to Zheng He's drove of dragons.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)