I am quite sure that our views on evolution would be very different had biologists studied genetics and natural selection before and not after most of them were convinced that evolution had occurred. John B. S. Haldane More Quotes by John B. S. Haldane More Quotes From John B. S. Haldane Shelley and Keats were the last English poets who were at all up to date in their chemical knowledge. John B. S. Haldane poet lasts science I have no doubt that in reality the future will be vastly more surprising than anything I can imagine. Now my own suspicion is that the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose. John B. S. Haldane ignorance reality knowledge Every Christian church has tried to impose a code of morals of some kind for which it has claimed divine sanction. As these codes have always been opposed to those of the gospels a loophole has been left for moral progress such as hardly exists in other religions. John B. S. Haldane progress church christian I think, however, that so long as our present economic and national systems continue, scientific research has little to fear. John B. S. Haldane research long thinking I will give up my belief in evolution if someone finds a fossil rabbit in the Precambrian. John B. S. Haldane fossils giving-up rabbits Science is as yet in its infancy, and we can foretell little of the future save that the thing that has not been is the thing that shall be; that no beliefs, no values, no institutions are safe. John B. S. Haldane belief safe littles So far from being an isolated phenomenon the late war is only an example of the disruptive result that we may constantly expect from the progress of science. John B. S. Haldane progress example war The future will be no primrose path. It will have its own problems. Some will be the secular problems of the past, giant flowers of evil blossoming at last to their own destruction. Others will be wholly new. John B. S. Haldane flower evil past There are 400,000 species of beetles on this planet, but only 8,000 species of mammals. John B. S. Haldane mammals species planets An attempt to study the evolution of living organisms without reference to cytology would be as futile as an account of stellar evolution which ignored spectroscopy. John B. S. Haldane stars would-be science The extreme socialists desire to run every nation as a single business concern. John B. S. Haldane concern desire running I do not believe in the commercial possibility of induced radioactivity. John B. S. Haldane possibility believe It wasn't until I had performed by first autopsy that I realized that even the drabest human exteriors could contain the most beautiful viscera. After that, I would console myself for the plainness of my fellow bus-riders by dissecting them in my imagination. John B. S. Haldane imagination beautiful firsts An ounce of algebra is worth a ton of verbal argument. John B. S. Haldane algebra argument So many new ideas are at first strange and horrible though ultimately valuable that a very heavy responsibility rests upon those who would prevent their dissemination. John B. S. Haldane responsibility ideas firsts If materialism is true, it seems to me that we cannot know that it is true. If my opinions are the result of the chemical processes going on in my brain, they are determined by the laws of chemistry, not those of logic. John B. S. Haldane law brain science And if we must educate our poets and artists in science, we must educate our masters, labour and capital, in art. John B. S. Haldane poet education art I suppose the process of acceptance will pass through the usual four stages: John B. S. Haldane acceptance views interesting While I do not suggest that humanity will ever be able to dispense with its martyrs, I cannot avoid the suspicion that with a little more thought and a little less belief their number may be substantially reduced. John B. S. Haldane atheism humanity numbers In fact, words are well adapted for description and the arousing of emotion, but for many kinds of precise thought other symbols are much better. John B. S. Haldane atheism emotion facts
