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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.

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
Humor
Delusions
Small
Pompous
Help
Sufficiently
Helping
Flattering
Cannot
Gifted
Become
Delusion
Would
Ass
Succumbing
Men
Danger
Perceiving

More quotes by Konrad Lorenz

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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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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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We do not take humor seriously enough.
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One of the most dangerously vicious circles menacing the continued existence of all mankind arises through that grim striving for the highest possible position within the ranked order, in other words, the reckless pursuit of power which combines with an insatiable greed of neurotic proportions that the results of acquired power confer.
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I believe that present day civilized man suffers from insufficient discharge of his aggressive drive
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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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Man appears to be the missing link between anthropoid apes and human beings.
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Every mutation through a new combination of genetic factors that provides the organism with a new opportunity for coming to terms with the conditions of its environment signifies no more and no less than that new information about this environment has got into that organic system. Adaptation is essentially a cognitive process.
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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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I believe that both art and the human striving for cognitive comprehension are manifest forms of the grand game in which nothing more is stipulated than the game's rules both art and actively solicited perceptions are but special cases of the recurring creative act to which we owe our existence.
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Scientific truth is universal, because it is only discovered by the human brain and not made by it, as art is.
Konrad Lorenz
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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.
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The cat is a wild animal that inhabits the homes of humans.
Konrad Lorenz
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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.
Konrad Lorenz
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The human soul is very much older than the human mind.
Konrad Lorenz
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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.
Konrad Lorenz
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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.
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.
Konrad Lorenz
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Philosophers are people who know less and less about more and more, until they know nothing about everything. Scientists are people who know more and more about less and less, until they know everything about nothing.
Konrad Lorenz
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Few animals display their mood via facial expressions as distinctly as cats.
Konrad Lorenz