I call the notion that we are nothing but killer apes the Beethoven fallacy. Beethoven was disorganized and messy, and yet his music is the epitome of order.

To endow animals with human emotions has long been a scientific taboo. But if we do not, we risk missing something fundamental, about both animals and us.

The enemy of science is not religion... . The true enemy is the substitution of thought, reflection, and curiosity with dogma.

If we look straight and deep into a chimpanzee's eyes, an intelligent self-assured personality looks back at us. If they are animals, what must we be?

If you ask anyone, what is morality based on? These are the two factors that always come out: One is reciprocity, … a sense of fairness, and the other one is empathy and compassion.

Darwin wasn't just provocative in saying that we descend from the apes - he didn't go far enough. We are apes in every way, from our long arms and tailless bodies to our habits and temperament.

Perhaps it's just me, but I am wary of any persons whose belief system is the only thing standing between them and repulsive behavior.

We are territorial, power-hungry and even more brutal than chimpanzees.

The possibility that empathy resides in parts of the brain so ancient that we share them with rats should give pause to anyone comparing politicians with those poor, underestimated creatures.

We are by far the most contradictory of all primates. An animal with this much internal conflict has never lived on this earth.

Socialism cannot function, because its economic reward structure is contrary to human nature.

Clocks were invented to warn us. Tick (time is passing). Tock (time has passed).

Do not exchange your dignity for popularity.

Go out on the front porch of the house, turn the Washington Post over with your big toe, and if your name's above the fold, you know you're not going to have a good day.

Any time we deny any citizen the full exercise of his constitutional rights, we are weakening our own claim to them.

Some people, when they hear an echo, think they originated the sound.

Editors of open anthologies actively seek submissions from all comers, established and unknown. They are willing to read whatever the tide washes up at their feet.

Those who do not know must be taught, not punished. We do not hit the blind. We lead them by the hand.

It's quite easy to make a load of people laugh, it's often a reflex action, but I think to make them cry is harder without manipulating them.

Where two nations are gonna have a summit and a joint agreement's gonna be announced, the joint agreement and the language is all decided before the summit ever happens.

I don't drink coffee I take tea my dear I like my toast done on one side.