Ernst Mayr Quotes

Every politician, clergyman, educator, or physician, in short, anyone dealing with human individuals, is bound to make grave mistakes if he ignores these two great truths of population zoology: (1) no two individuals are alike, and (2) both environment and genetic endowment make a contribution to nearly every trait.

Life is simply the reification of the process of living.

Our understanding of the world is achieved more effectively by conceptual improvements than by discovery of new facts

The history of science knows scores of instances where an investigator was in the possession of all the important facts for a new theory but simply failed to ask the right questions.

Evolution as such is no longer a theory for a modern author. It is as much a fact as that the earth revolves around the sun.

most scientific problems are far better understood by studying their history than their logic.

Mathematics is as little a science as grammar is a language.

Definitions are temporary verbalizations of concepts, and concepts- particularly difficult concepts- are usually revised repeatedly as our knowledge and understanding grows.