Biologically, man is still the great amateur of the animal kingdom; he is unique in his lack of anatomical and physiological specialization. Rene Dubos More Quotes by Rene Dubos More Quotes From Rene Dubos Human diversity makes tolerance more than a virtue; it makes it a requirement for survival. Rene Dubos tolerancediversitydifferences To ward off disease or recover health, people as a rule find it easier to depend on healers than to attempt the more difficult task of living wisely. Rene Dubos taskshealingpeople Human destiny is bound to remain a gamble, because at some unpredictable time and in some unforeseeable manner nature will strike back. Rene Dubos environmentalstrikesdestiny As long as mankind is made up of independent individuals with free will, there cannot be any social status quo. Men will develop new urges, and these will give rise to new problems, which will require ever new solutions. Human life implies adventure, and there is no adventure without struggles and dangers. Rene Dubos independentstruggleadventure Clearly, health and disease cannot be defined merely in terms of anatomical, physiological, or mental attributes. Their real measure is the ability of the individual to function in a manner acceptable to himself and to the group of which he is a part. Rene Dubos groupshealthreal The earth is literally our mother, not only because we depend on her for nurture and shelter but even more because the human sepcies has been shaped by her in the womb of evolution. Our salvation depends upon our ability to create a religion of nature. Rene Dubos sheltereugenicsmother Each civilization has its own kind of pestilence and can control it only by reforming itself. Rene Dubos pestilencecivilizationculture The very process of living is a continual interplay between the individual and his environment, often taking the form of a struggle resulting in injury or disease. Rene Dubos diseasestrugglelife Sometimes the more measurable drives out the most important. Rene Dubos importantsometimes It is often by a trivial, even an anecdotal decision, that we direct our activities into a certain channel, and thus determine which of the potential expressions of our individuality become manifest. Usually we know nothing of the ultimate orientation or of the outlet toward which we travel, and the stream sweeps us to a formula of life from which there is no returning. Every decision is like a murder, and our march forward is over the stillborn bodies of all our possible selves that will never be. Rene Dubos decisionexpressionself What happens in the mind of man is always reflected in the disease of his body. Rene Dubos bodymindmen But solving problems of disease is not the same thing as creating health and happiness. (...) Health and happiness are the expression of the manner in which the individual responds and adapts to the challenges that he meets in everyday life. Rene Dubos creatingexpressionchallenges There is an unbroken continuum from the wisdom of the body to the wisdom of the mind, from the wisdom of the individual to the wisdom of the race. Rene Dubos unbrokenracemind It is not man the ecological crisis threatens to destroy but the quality of human life. Rene Dubos earth-dayqualitymen Man not only survives and functions in his environment, he shapes it and he is shaped by it. Rene Dubos decisionmenscience The word "wilderness" occurs approximately three hundred times in the Bible, and all its meanings are derogatory. Rene Dubos threeearthmother The mechanisms of vis medicatrix naturæ—the most healing power of nature—are so effective that most diseases are self-terminating. Rene Dubos healthselfhealing It is possible to analyze the biological and social influences that make each human being unique, unprecedented, and unrepeatable, but this analysis does not explain how and why each feels different from all other human beings. Rene Dubos mankinduniquehumans Man could escape danger only by renouncing adventure, by abandoning that which has given to the human condition its unique character and genius among the rest of living things. Rene Dubos uniqueadventurecharacter A sense of continuity with the rest of creation is a form of religious experience essential to sanity. Rene Dubos essentialsreligiousreligion
