Jacques Monod Quotes

A totally blind process can by definition lead to anything; it can even lead to vision itself.

There are living systems; there is no'living matter'.

What is true for E. coli is also true for the elephant.

Je cherche à comprendre.

Every living being is also a fossil. Within it, all the way down to the microscopic structure of its proteins, it bears the traces if not the stigmata of its ancestry.

In science there is and will remain a Platonic element which could not be taken away without ruining it. Among the infinite diversity of singular phenomena science can only look for invariants.

The scientific attitude implies the postulate of objectivity-that is to say, the fundamental postulate that there is no plan; that there is no intention in the universe.

The whole concert of animate nature arose entirely from annoying noises.

Man finally knows that he is alone in the indifferent immensity of the Universe, from which he emerged by accident.

A curious aspect of the theory of evolution is that everybody thinks he understands it.

Man's destiny is nowhere spelled out, nor is his duty.

Man knows at last that he is alone in the universe's unfeeling immensity, out of which he emerged only by chance.

Chance alone is at the source of all novelty, all creation in the biosphere.