All evolutionary biologists know that variation itself is nature's only irreducible essence... I had to place myself amidst the variation.
Stephen Jay GouldAll science is intelligent inference; excessive literalism is delusion, not a humble bowing to evidence.
Stephen Jay GouldWe are storytelling animals, and cannot bear to acknowledge the ordinariness of our daily lives.
Stephen Jay GouldSkepticism's bad rap arises from the impression that, however necessary the activity, it can only be regarded as a negative removal of false claims. Not so... Proper debunking is done in the interest of an alternate model of explanation, not as a nihilistic exercise. The alternate model is rationality itself, tied to moral decency--the most powerful joint instrument for good that our planet has ever known.
Stephen Jay Gould