#ene

A four-letter alphabet called DNA. ↗

— Matt Ridley

#genetics #heredity #nature

Every generation is inculcated in traditions of prejudice which are encouraged as normal, natural and healthy. ↗

— Bryant McGill

#prejudice #tradition #nature

Natural selection involves no plan, no goal, and no direction — just genes increasing and decreasing in frequency depending on whether individuals with those genes have, relative to other individuals, greater or lesser reproductive success. ↗

— Randolph M. Nesse

#natural-selection #nature

To that point, he had always found the vicomtesse overflowing with friendly politeness, that sweet-flowing grace conferred by an aristocratic education, and which is never truly there unless it comes, automatically and unthinkingly, straight from the heart. [...] For anyone who had learned the social code, and Rastignac had absorbed it all in a flash, these words, that gesture, that look, that inflection in her voice, summed up all there was to know about the nature and the ways of men and women of her class. He was vividly aware of the iron hand underneath the velvet glove; the personality, and especially the self-centeredness, under the polished manners; the plain hard wood, under all the varnish. [...] Eugène had been entirely too quick to take this woman's word for her own kindness. Like all those who cannot help themselves, he had signed on the dotted line, accepting the delightful contract binding both benefactor and recipient, the very first clause of which makes clear that, as between noble souls, perfect equality must be forever maintained. Beneficience, which ties people together, is a heavenly passion, but a thoroughly misunderstood one, and quite as scarce as true love. Both stem from the lavish nature of great souls. ↗

— Honoré de Balzac

#character #hypocrisy #kind #kindness #people

Considering the way the prebiotic soup is referred to in so many discussions of the origin of life as an already established reality, it comes as something of a shock to realize that there is absolutely no positive evidence for its existence. ↗

— Michael Denton

#biology #chemical-evolution #darwinism #evolution #naturalism

Hey! look at us We're digging and digging Into stubborn, ancient earth; We're discovering Where we came from, and how we came. "but where are you going?" Hey! look at us We're learning and learning Into stubborn laws Of nature and space And non-nature and non-space; We're discovering All there is to know. "but where are you going?" Hey! look at us We're planning and planning Into stubborn years Of education and training And hopes and dreams; We're discovering How not to waste any time. "but where are you going?" Hey! look at us We're shiny and bright And clever and sophisticated And witty and well-read; We're discovering How to really fill up This old life. "but where are you going?" where? "Yes; where? ↗

— Lois A. Cheney

#culture #deep-thought #inspirational #life #lois-a-cheney

The day stared back an empty gray, with not a speck of white to give character to the lifeless sky. ↗

— Ashley Madau

#nature #scenery #sky #vampire #vampires

Generalization is a natural human mental process, and many generalizations are true—in average. What often does promote evil behavior is the lazy, nasty habit of believing that generalizations have anything at all to do with individuals. ↗

— David Brin

#evil #generalization #generalizations #individual #individuals

Our basest beggars are in the poorest thing superfluous: Allow not nature more than nature needs, man's life is cheap as beast's. ↗

— William Shakespeare

#scene-iv #nature

As you notice your whole being, your entirety, your wise inner nature, there are messages there for you. Quietly give permission for your wholeness, your entirety, to share its deepest wisdom. ↗

— Janet Gallagher Nestor

#mindfulness #self-awareness #spirituality #stress-relief #wellbeing