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The fifth method (that is, of analyzing human mating systems) is to compare mankind with other animals that share our highly social habits: with colonial birds, monkeys, and dolphins. As we shall see, the lesson they teach is that we are designed for a system of monogamy plagued by adultery.

— Matt Ridley The Red Queen (1993)

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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.

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

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

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

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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.