Can I pay any higher tribute to a man [George Gaylord Simpson] than to state that his work both established a profession and sowed the seeds for its own revision? If Simpson had reached final truth, he either would have been a priest or would have chosen a dull profession. The history of life cannot be a dull profession.
Stephen Jay GouldSurely the mitochondrion that first entered another cell was not thinking about the future benefits of cooperation and integration; it was merely trying to make its own living in a tough Darwinian world
Stephen Jay GouldAll science is intelligent inference; excessive literalism is delusion, not a humble bowing to evidence.
Stephen Jay GouldA man does not attain the status of Galileo merely because he is persecuted; he must also be right.
Stephen Jay Gould