"Life is a Sisyphean race, run ever faster towards a finishing line that is merely the start of the next race."

Matt Ridley Economics See all quotes by Matt Ridley →

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“As every bird-watcher knows, the beauty of a bird's song is inversely correlated with the colourfulness of its plumage.”

“...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.”

“People are attracted to people of high reproductive and genetic potential -the healthy, the fit and the powerful. The consequences of this fact, which goes under the name of sexual selection, are bizarre in the extreme.”

“Evolving is not a goal but a means to solving a problem.”

“In behavior, as in appearance, every human individual is unique.”

“Wealth and power are means to women; women are means to genetic eternity.”

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"My own mystic bent leads me to believe that musical variations, collage, reiteration and process, or evolution, are beautiful. Life is worth living and beauty is worth making."

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"If you're a leader, you don't push wet spaghetti, you pull it. The U.S. Army still has to learn that. The British understand it. Patton understood it. I always admired Patton. Oh, sure, the stupid bas…"

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