Man is the result of a purposeless and natural process that did not have him in mind
George Gaylord SimpsonSplitting and gradual divergence of genera is exemplified very well and in a large variety of organisms.
George Gaylord SimpsonMan is the result of a purposeless and materialistic process that did not have him in mind. He was not planned. He is a state of matter, a form of life, a sort of animal, and a species of the Order Primates, akin nearly or remotely to all of life and indeed to all that is material.
George Gaylord SimpsonRecognition of this kinship with the rest of the universe is necessary for understanding him, but his essential nature is defined by qualities found nowhere else, not by those he has in common with apes, fishes, trees, fire, or anything other than himself.
George Gaylord SimpsonThe earliest and most primitive known members of every order already have the basic ordinal characters, and in no case is an approximately continuous sequence from one order to another known. In most cases the break is so sharp and the gap so large that the origin of the order is speculative and much disputed.
George Gaylord Simpson