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The evolutionary implication is that we are descended from a common ancestor with flies which used the same way of defining the pattern of the embryo more than 530 million years ago, and that the mechanism was so good that all this dead creature’s descendants have hung on to it.

— Matt Ridley Genome (1999)

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More quotes by Matt Ridley

When a neo-Darwinian asks, “Why?” he is really asking “How did this come about?” He is a historian.

The Red Queen (1993)

Just as human nature is the same everywhere, so it is recognizably the same as it was in the past.

The Red Queen (1993)

A gene is by definition the descendant of a gene that was good at getting into future generations.

The Red Queen (1993)

And even where I am wrong about human nature, I am not wrong that there is such a nature to be sought.

The Red Queen (1993)

Monogamy, enforced by law, religion, or sanction, does seem to reduce murderous competition between men.

The Red Queen (1993)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Matt Ridley (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.