"Species evolve to meet the environment. An intelligent species changes the environment to suit itself. As soon as a species becomes intelligent, it should stop evolving."

Larry Niven Literature See all quotes by Larry Niven →

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“We learn only to ask more questions.”

“3) Stories to end all stories on a given topic, don't.”

“The Gods do not protect fools. Fools are protected by more capable fools.”

“I had to grin. Morris was shocked and horrified. I'd shown him a brand new sin.”

“Sex was a game nobody lost.”

“Anyone who says human nature can't be changed is out of his head. To make it stick, he's got to define human nature—and he can't.”

Resonant Thoughts

"I am a Land Leaguer myself, and I would not be a Land Leaguer if it had anything behind it like revolution. I would fight against it." : Daly to the Bessborough Commission 1880."

— James Daly (Irish Land League)

Social Activism1838–1911

#change

"Creating new people, by having babies, is so much a part of human life that it is rarely thought even to require a justification. Indeed, most people do not even think about whether they should or sho…"

— David Benatar

Philosophy1966

#life

"They say great minds think alike. That's also true of tiny minds, and it's especially true of closed ones. I'm always impressed by students who know so much about the world they feel no need to listen…"

— Pat Condell

Literature1949

#education

"It is the principle of necessity towards which, as to their ultimate centre, all the ideas advanced in this essay immediately converge. In abstract theory the limits of this necessity are determined s…"

— Wilhelm von Humboldt

Philosophy1767–1835

#mind