But what really excited me was the idea that humans had a tremendous pre-history that went back millions of years. I wanted to go to Africa to find some of these creatures. Donald Johanson More Quotes by Donald Johanson More Quotes From Donald Johanson Commitment, belief and positive attitude are all important if you're going to be a success, whether you're in sports, in business or, as in my case, anthropology. Donald Johanson attitude sports commitment And what I wanted to do was, I wanted to explore problems and areas where we didn't have answers. In fact, where we didn't even know the right questions to ask. Donald Johanson asking-the-right-questions answers facts In our case, finding a Lucy is unique. No one will ever find another Lucy. You can't order one from a biological supply house. It's a unique discovery, a unique specimen. Donald Johanson finding-the-one unique discovery Evolution explains our biological evolution, but human beings are very unique creatures. As the Dobzhansky said, all animals are unique; humans are the uniquest. And that uniqueness of being human, language, art, culture, our dependency on culture for survival, comes from the combination of traditional biological evolution. Donald Johanson unique animal art One has to take initiative in life to achieve what he or she wants. Donald Johanson initiative achieve want One has to devote oneself to a particular pursuit. To be successful at anything, you have to make a total commitment to it. Donald Johanson pursuit successful commitment I think that many of my ideas are correct, but I'll bet you, before my death other discoveries will be made that will prompt me to alter various ideas I have about human evolution. Donald Johanson discovery ideas thinking The right question to ask from a Darwinian prospective is what was it about bipedalism that was so advantageous? Why did it lead to a - why did that adaptation ultimately lead to a species Homo sapiens that has come to dominate the planet today with six and a half billion people? Donald Johanson half today people Scientists are very afraid of being proven wrong. Donald Johanson proven-wrong proven scientist Lucy brought with her an image of our human ancestors that you don't get when you find a jaw or an arm bone or a leg bone. Here was 40 percent of a single skeleton. Donald Johanson skeletons legs hands Most Achievers I Know Are People Who Have Made A Strong And Deep Dedication to Pursuing A Particular Goal. That Dedication Took A Tremendous Amount Of Effort. Donald Johanson dedication strong people There have been some friendships lost over this. That's the most difficult for me. I find it very uncomfortable to know that I was at one time close friends with someone, and because of jealousies and misunderstandings and so on, these friendships have dissolved. Donald Johanson lost-friendship close-friends difficult Normally, we are happy to find a fragment of jaw, a few isolated teeth, a bit of an arm, a bit of a skull. But to find associated body parts is extremely rare. Donald Johanson teeth skulls hands My real father died when I was two years old, so I never knew him. He was a barber in Chicago. Donald Johanson two-year-olds real father When the first fossils began to be found in eastern Africa, in the late 1950s, I thought, what a wonderful marriage this was, biology and anthropology. I was around 16 years old when I made this particular choice of academic pursuit. Donald Johanson fossils choices years As an undergraduate, I had an opportunity to go on a number of archeological digs. So I had experience excavating, digging up remains of ancient Indian villages in the Midwest and in the Southwest. Donald Johanson hiking opportunity numbers If you were to go to the National Museum in Addis Ababa, you would walk into a huge room filled with literally tens of tons of fossils, and most of them would be elephants and rhinos and hippopotamus and monkeys and giraffes and antelopes and so on. Hominids are very rare in the landscape, and it's very rare to find them. Donald Johanson walk go you landscape Where we are going as a species is a big question. Human evolution certainly hasn't stopped. Every time individuals produce a new zygote, there's a reshuffling and recombination of genes. And we don't know where all of that is going to take us. Donald Johanson new know evolution time We are placed in the genus of Homo, which is Latin for man - Homo sapiens: supposedly wise men. I sometimes think - wonder - whether we really are wise men. Donald Johanson man wise sometimes men It's very hard for all of us, when we've committed ourselves to a particular interpretation, to change our minds. Donald Johanson minds us hard change
