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Most of the vices and mortal sins condemned today correspond to inclinations that were purely adaptive or at least harmless in primitive man

Konrad Lorenz

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Konrad Lorenz
Age: 85 †
Born: 1903
Born: November 7
Died: 1989
Died: February 27
Biologist
Ethologist
Naturalist
Philosopher
Physician
Psychologist
University Teacher
Writer
Zoologist
Vienna
Austria
Konrad Z. Lorenz
Konrad Zacharias Lorenz
Mortals
Harmless
Vices
Demise
Sin
Condemned
Least
Inclination
Today
Purely
Men
Mortal
Correspond
Primitive
Adaptive
Sins
Inclinations

More quotes by Konrad Lorenz

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Historians will have to face the fact that natural selection determined the evolution of cultures in the same manner as it did that of species.
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Man appears to be the missing link between anthropoid apes and human beings.
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The fidelity of a dog is a precious gift.
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Barking dogs may occasionally bite, but laughing men hardly ever shoot!
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Few animals display their mood via facial expressions as distinctly as cats.
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All too willingly man sees himself as the centre of the universe, as something not belonging to the rest of nature but standing apart as a different and higher being. Many people cling to this error and remain deaf to the wisest command ever given by a sage, the famous Know thyself inscribed in the temple of Delphi.
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Man has been driven out of the paradise in which he could trust his instincts.
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It ought to be realized by all dog owners that obesity shortens a dog's life quite considerably, a life which is much too short anyhow.
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We do not take humor seriously enough.
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In science, new ideas are at first completely neglected, later fiercely attacked, and finally regarded as well known.
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The neuro-physiological organization which we call instinct functions in a blindly mechanical way, particularly apparent when its function goes wrong.
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All the advantages that man has gained from his ever-deepening understanding of the natural world that surrounds him, his technological, chemical and medical progress, all of which should seem to alleviate human suffering... tends instead to favor humanity's destruction.
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Hatred of humanity and love of animals make a very bad combination.
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I would rather have a Scot come from Scotland togovern the people of this kingdom well and justly, than that you should govern them ill in the sight of all the world.
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I believe that present day civilized man suffers from insufficient discharge of his aggressive drive
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...he who has seen the intimate beauty of nature cannot tear himself away from it again. He must become either a poet or a naturalist and, if his eyes are keen and his powers of observation sharp enough, he may well become both.
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I see the creative accomplishments of which highly gifted humans are capable as special cases of the universal creative process, that game played by everyone against everyone else, from which wells up all that has never been before.
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A man sufficiently gifted with humor is in small danger of succumbing to flattering delusions about himself, because he cannot help perceiving what a pompous ass he would become if he did.
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The scientist knows very well that he is approaching ultimate truth only in an asymptotic curve and is barred from ever reaching it but at the same time he is proudly aware of being indeed able to determine whether a statement is a nearer or a less near approach to the truth.
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The instinctive need to be the member of a closely knit group fighting for common ideals may grow so strong that it becomes inessential what these ideals are.
Konrad Lorenz