It is now firmly established that ontogeny does not repeat phylogeny

Splitting and gradual divergence of genera is exemplified very well and in a large variety of organisms.

The fact -- not theory -- that evolution has occurred and the Darwinian theory as to how it occurred have become so confused in popular opinion that the distinction must be stressed.

I have a debt, a loyalty to the museum; the best place for me to do what I wanted to do.

I don't know where to put whales. I'm sticking them here, but I don't have any reason for it.

Man is the result of a purposeless and natural process that did not have him in mind

Species evolve exactly as if they were adapting as best they could to a changing world, and not at all as if they were moving toward a set goal.

The search for historical laws is, I maintain, mistaken in principle.

...the argument from absence of transitional types boils down to the striking fact that such types are always lacking unless they have been found.

It is inherent in any definition of science that statements that cannot be checked by observation are not really saying anything or at least they are not science.

The science of systematics has long been affected by profound philosophical preconceptions, which have been all the more influential for being usually covert, even subconscious.

Sometimes I want to be human for you.

It is how we respond to loss that matters. That response will largely determine the quality, the direction, and the impact of our lives.

A good book is a man's best friend. It never leaves you even in your darkest hour.

Always desire to learn something useful.

Rest and motion, unrelieved and unchecked, are equally destructive.

There's animals like us existing and thinking and giving interviews on Australian television.

Since Sven Goran Eriksson took over, England have been fantastic.

Just after they exist, all men start travelling; some towards the land of the truth, some towards the land of the stupidity! Most men are on their way to the second land!

The only good thing about America is that you killed John Lennon.

The wise want love; and those who love want wisdom.