Quotes About Adaptation

The world is a lively place enough, in which we must accommodate ourselves to circumstances, sail with the stream as glibly as we can, be content to take froth for substance, the surface for the depth, the counterfeit for the real coin. I wonder no philosopher has ever established that our globe itself is hollow. It should be, if Nature is consistent in her works.

The very houses seemed disposed to pack up and take trips. Wonderful Members of Parliament, who, little more than twenty years before, had made themselves merry with the wild railroad theories of engineers, and given them the liveliest rubs in cross-examination, went down into the north with their watches in their hands, and sent on messages before by the electric telegraph, to say that they were coming.

But Mr. and Mrs. Micawber were so used to their old difficulties, I think, that they felt quite shipwrecked when they came to consider that they were released from them.

Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let hem laugh, and little heeded them; fore he was wise enough to know that nothin ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset

Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt conquered a confirmed habit of living into which she had fallen, and Biddy became a part of our establishment.

Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset;

It was pleasant to observe that Mrs. Wemmick no longer unwound Wemmick's arm when it adapted itself to her figure, but sat in a high-backed chair against the wall, like a violoncello in its case, and submitted to be embraced as that melodious instrument might have done.

Blunt tools are are sometimes found of use, where sharper instruments would fail.

We are half ruined by conformity; but we should be wholly ruined without it.

Change might not be fast and it isn't always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped.

first rule of tropical weather—don't fight against it; go with it.

Recognizing the need is the primary condition for design.

People tend to conceptualize problems in such a way as to validate the tools that are familiar and available to them. If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. If all you have are antibiotics, you will always look for the germ. If all you have is a mindset of war, then you will always look first for an enemy.

It is apparent that "practical" isn't working as well as it used to. Not only because what was once practical is insufficient to our need, but also because it is increasingly impotent in its native realm: the practical is no longer practical. Like it or not, we are being born into a new world.

Here I got rid of one of the most troublesome parts of my load — trading my venerable and battered Winchester rifle for a splendid new Colt's six-shooter with all its trappings — a perfect weapon which has since seen me through many a "close call." The exchange was a most welcome relief, and as for effectiveness, I soon got so handy with the new arm that there was no need for the rifle.

No conozco ninguna norma en cuestiones de religión, filosofía, ciencia, ni complicación de las tareas domésticas, que no pueda ser moldeada para que se ajuste a cualquier exigencia. Ajustamos las normas a nuestras opiniones o quebrantamos una ley que nos apetece quebrantar

People are very open-minded about new things--as long as they're exactly like the old ones.

That's not a thing any of us are granted. To go back. Wipe away what later doesn't suit us and make it the way we wish it. You just go on

The point is that progress—whether in business, an economy, or science—comes through experimentation and failure

The evolution of the human race will not be accomplished in the ten thousand years of tame animals, but in the million years of wild animals, because man is, and always will be, a wild animal.

To design the future effectively, you must first let go of your past.

Evolution: that last step was a doozy!

Evolution: one small step for man, one giant leap backward for mankind.

As long as you're green, you're growing; as soon as you're ripe, you start to rot.