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| Link | Quote | Stars | Tags | Author |
| 5fa92c8 | Here we are, two of the world's experts on chimpanzee behavior, and we have no idea how to control this one animal." And he laughed bitterly. For the first time in my life I felt at a total loss. I had no idea what to do, no answer for him. I felt only dread for what the future might hold." -- | Douglas Preston | ||
| 53ec1ea | the guilt and suffering of Judas Escariot. I do not believe, however, that the congregation took to it. I asked the question: Was Judas chosen for the deed? It was prophesied, was it not? Where, then, is the guilt? | Douglas Preston | ||
| 47c50c8 | The good people of Kibbencook, indeed all human beings, want answers, not questions, from their religious leaders. No matter. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 688e483 | I have not felt her presence, as I had always believed I should if she should predecease me. Where is she? I am afraid for her, and for myself. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 34b8c08 | The monkey, as I understood it, is to stay indefinitely. I returned hatless. R. was much put out. I pray God bring her peace. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 2b679d0 | animals surely would be in Heaven, otherwise Heaven would not be Heaven. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 8ba8aee | at least the higher animals have souls, and they are inevitably saved. Only man, who has the capacity for good and evil, can be damned. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 7aca985 | Jennie had a set of values, but she didn't realize they were different values from the rest of us. She never could understand why she was always in trouble. In the end, I mean. She didn't know what it was that made her angry all the time. I'll tell you what it was. It was very simple: it was our society trying to break her, trying to make her a nice middle-class person. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 6180916 | their relationship had a spiritual dimension. Think about that for a moment. Language is power. Prentiss was like a spiritual guide. She gave Jennie power--and Jennie used it. | Douglas Preston | ||
| ed619f8 | She created a new world for herself. It blew my mind to see this animal acquire language. And then literally reshape her world with it. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 3a93286 | At what point in evolution did man acquire the knowledge of good and evil, and thus the capacity to be damned? In this light, the story of Adam and Eve takes on deeper significance. It is a parable of evolution. | Douglas Preston | ||
| ad37fac | it was never too late for the truth. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 4fb7ed5 | He said he had been converted to atheism at the age of six, when his Sunday school teacher had described with relish the eternal fires of Hell. | Douglas Preston | ||
| e5cc292 | Your grandmother sent me to church every day, and it did me no harm. It was in church that I was converted to atheism. Also, it's a wise hedge. I myself might take it up on my deathbed, just in case. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 5c6d794 | America. What a wonderful country. Too bad it was doomed to fail. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 192bd4e | There can be no doubt: life is a miraculous thing, and even more miraculous is human intelligence. Our world, this earth, is a surpassingly beautiful place, perfectly suited to our needs. It is as if the world were created for us, so perfect is it. But this is an illusion; in fact, we were created for the world. The world is just right for us because we've been adapting to it for millions of years. | Douglas Preston | ||
| faea896 | So, after half a million, what did the chimps say?" Well, not much, when you really analyze it. That wasn't the point, for God's sake! And the scientists who supported us were afraid to object. They didn't want to attract Proxmire's attention. Cowards, every one." | Douglas Preston | ||
| a68aa2d | Evolution extracts a price. What is the price? Sickness, old age, and death; tragedy, hunger, sorrow, pain, and suffering--all these must exist in order for evolution to operate. Without death there can be no evolution. | Douglas Preston | ||
| c2c17fc | All living things must pay dearly for the miracle of their existence. We human beings must pay the highest price of all, because evolution has given us a brain capable of understanding death. And death lies across all our lives like some hideous, vulgar joke. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 8307f26 | It encourages us to develop evolution's greatest gift to us: our intellects. It instructs us to appreciate this life as fully as possible, because we will never have another. This, then, is my religion. | Douglas Preston | ||
| ecc1846 | If this sounds like strange talk from a scientist--so be it. If there is one thing I have learned from a lifetime study of science, it is that the world is not a place we human beings will ever comprehend. Understand, yes; comprehend, no. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 5567afa | our brains did not evolve to help us comprehend the true meaning of things, only to understand their mechanical workings. Knowing the true meaning of reality does not contribute to one's ability to survive, and thus this kind of understanding was not addressed by evolution. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 1a1c068 | To most people, Metcalf had discovered, silence was even more unbearable than pointed questioning. | Douglas Preston | ||
| c60aa7d | This genetic resistance, by the way, should not be confused with acquired immunity. Acquired immunity is when a body gets rid of a pathogen and afterward maintains a state of high alert for that same microbe. It's why people don't normally get the same illness twice. Genetic resistance is something deeper and more mysterious. It is not acquired through exposure--you are born with it. | Douglas Preston | ||
| c91ef9f | complex farming societies were able to thrive in even the toughest rainforest areas. Human ingenuity is boundless. | Douglas Preston | ||
| eca150f | Our modes of speech are bred in the bone, madam. We cannot escape them any more than we can the colour of our eyes. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 21c0916 | The Maya created a vibrant and brilliant society that, in the end, failed to adjust to a changing environment and the needs of its people; | Douglas Preston | ||
| 4c6ed68 | Finally she spoke."We don't have much time." She paused, looking at him steadily. "I need to tell you something, Tom." "What?" "It seems I've fallen in love with you." Reality returned with sudden clarity. Tom couldn't quite speak. She went on briskly. "Anyway, there--now it's said." "But what about--?" "Julian?" | Douglas Preston | ||
| f9105d3 | make sure we wealthy are not allowed to use our money as a tool of oppression and subversion of democracy. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 93f3dca | You see, between me and life there is a mist of words always. | Douglas Preston | ||
| a4a794c | I'm never better than when I'm alone. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 82e771b | Do you know, I've always believed there's no such thing as a moral or immoral book. Books are well written or badly written--that's all. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 922596d | The best way to not think of something is to possess it fully, and then cultivate indifference. | Douglas Preston | ||
| d8ab918 | Mary and Joseph," he said, "turned a very embarrassing situation into one of the greatest coups in history. Clever, clever, clever!" | Douglas Preston | ||
| 9157295 | Most "science reporters" for newspapers and magazines did not have the scientific background to understand the ramifications of the story. Those involved with the story of Jennie's life were anxious to correct the record." | Douglas Preston | ||
| 683936b | In Lake's experience, even eccentric and unconventional people carefully curated their persona. Very few truly didn't give a goddamn what others thought. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 2cf7bb4 | He was lying on his back, eating peanuts, and gazing straight up with binoculars at the troop of spider monkeys. They in turn were lined up on a limb fifty feet above, staring down at him and eating leaves. It was a funny sight, two curious primate species observing each other with fascination. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 563fe92 | The act of living causes brain damage. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 5455d09 | There are four biosafety levels, BSL-1 to BSL-4.) | Douglas Preston | ||
| 1069291 | In AD 426, a ruler named K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' (Sun-Eyed Resplendent Quetzal Macaw) came down from the Maya city of Tikal, in Guatemala, and seized control of the settlement of Copan in a coup or invasion. He became Copan's first "Holy Lord" and launched a dynasty of sixteen lords that would elevate Copan into a glorious city dominating the area for centuries." | Douglas Preston | ||
| b05ad57 | From many bragging inscriptions of glorious combat and deeds, we know the Maya city-states were belligerent and engaged in frequent battles with each other and with their neighbors. These conflicts only intensified as the wealth and populations of the Maya city-states increased, swelling their hunger for resources. | Douglas Preston | ||
| 26ef977 | But now I feel rather like Br'er Rabbit being thrown into the briar patch, because I have found you here, in charge. Just like when we first met, back at the Natural History Museum. | Douglas Preston | ||
| a1871cf | Even with the intense excitement and high spirits, the hike back to camp was grueling, as the steep hillsides were impossible to descend except in a semi-controlled sort of falling slide. | Douglas Preston | ||
| d58b84e | increasingly parasitic role of the elite. | Douglas Preston |