The science of systematics has long been affected by profound philosophical preconceptions, which have been all the more influential for being usually covert, even subconscious.

Splitting and gradual divergence of genera is exemplified very well and in a large variety of organisms.

The fact -- not theory -- that evolution has occurred and the Darwinian theory as to how it occurred have become so confused in popular opinion that the distinction must be stressed.

I have a debt, a loyalty to the museum; the best place for me to do what I wanted to do.

I don't know where to put whales. I'm sticking them here, but I don't have any reason for it.

Man is the result of a purposeless and natural process that did not have him in mind

Species evolve exactly as if they were adapting as best they could to a changing world, and not at all as if they were moving toward a set goal.

The search for historical laws is, I maintain, mistaken in principle.

...the argument from absence of transitional types boils down to the striking fact that such types are always lacking unless they have been found.

It is inherent in any definition of science that statements that cannot be checked by observation are not really saying anything or at least they are not science.

Almost all paleontologists recognize that the discovery of a complete transition is in any case unlikely.

Things hurt, and don't hurt, and hurt again.

MINISTER, n. An agent of a higher power with a lower responsibility. In diplomacy, an officer sent into a foreign country as the visible embodiment of his sovereign's hostility.

Men prosper or fail, survive or perish in proportion to the degree of their rationality.

When you wear a fresh pair of shoes, you feel like you can never die. You feel like you're gonna live forever.

A man's interest in a single bluebird is worth more than a complete but dry list of the fauna and flora of a town.

You got your God and so do I.

Never lie; never cheat; never steal. Don't whine; don't complain; don't make excuses.

Paths that cross will cross again

Integrity may be about little things as much or more than big ones.