Stephen Jay Gould

"Life did not achieve diversity through a series of predetermined steps but through constant experimentation."

"We cannot return to some previous state of nature because nature is always changing."

"The evidence for evolution is overwhelming when you understand where to look for it."

"Each species is a solution to a unique set of environmental challenges."

"Time is the most important variable in understanding life's history."

"The study of evolution requires both reverence for nature and skepticism of simple explanations."

"We are not descended from the apes but are apes ourselves."

"The universe does not owe us explanations, but science attempts to find them anyway."

"Gould believed that humility before nature was essential to good science."

"Species do not change gradually into new species but rather branch and diverge."

"The history of life teaches us that flexibility and adaptation are supreme virtues."

"We are products of four billion years of experimentation."

"The fossil record, despite its gaps, is one of the greatest gifts nature has given us."

"To understand evolution is to understand that we are part of nature, not separate from it."

"The complexity of life requires explanation; randomness alone cannot account for it."

"Evolution proceeds not toward perfection but toward adaptation to current circumstances."

"We must accept that much of life's history has been determined by chance events."