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Even in the age of science, we understand the motions of the distant, ancient stars better than we understand the organism observing them: ourselves.

— Steve Stewart-Williams The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve (2018)

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Science

More quotes by Steve Stewart-Williams

Rather than the human brain evolving for God, God evolved for the human brain.

The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve (2018)

We’re clusters of chemical reactions that contemplate deep truths about the nature of reality.

The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve (2018)

Nature isn’t just a bloodbath; it’s also a vast, unending orgy.

The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve (2018)

There are no average sex differences in IQ, for instance (much to the surprise and disappointment of both sexes).

A Billion Years of Sex Differences: How Evolution Shaped the Minds of Men and Women (2026)

When you contemplate the universe, part of the universe becomes conscious of itself.

Darwin, God and the Meaning of Life: How Evolutionary Theory Undermines Everything You Think You Know (2010)

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The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

H. P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu (1926)

All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.

Albert Einstein Moral Decay (1937)

Science and religion are two human enterprises sharing many features.

Freeman Dyson Infinite in All Directions (1988)

To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.

Henri Poincaré Science and Hypothesis (1901)

Attribution

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