Fossil Quotes

“Note, to-day, an instructive, curious spectacle and conflict. Science, (twin, in its fields, of Democracy in its)—Science, testing absolutely all thoughts, all works, has already burst well upon the world—a sun, mounting, most illuminating, most glorious—surely never again to set. But against it, deeply entrench'd, holding possession, yet remains, (not only through the churches and schools, but by imaginative literature, and unregenerate poetry,) the fossil theology of the mythic-materialistic, superstitious, untaught and credulous, fable-loving, primitive ages of humanity.”
― Walt Whitman, Complete Prose Works

“Every day, hundreds of observations and experiments pour into the hopper of the scientific literature. Many of them don't have much to do with evolution - they're observations about the details of physiology, biochemistry, development, and so on - but many of them do. And every fact that has something to do with evolution confirms its truth. Every fossil that we find, every DNA molecule that we sequence, every organ system that we dissect, supports the idea that species evolved from common ancestors. Despite innumerable possible observations that could prove evolution untrue, we don't have a single one. We don't find mammals in Precambrian rocks, humans in the same layers as dinosaurs, or any other fossils out of evolutionary order. DNA sequencing supports the evolutionary relationships of species originally deduced from the fossil record. And, as natural selection predicts, we find no species with adaptations that only benefit a different species. We do find dead genes and vestigial organs, incomprehensible under the idea of special creation. Despite a million chances to be wrong, evolution always comes up right. That is as close as we can get to a scientific truth.”
― Jerry A. Coyne, Why Evolution Is True

“The world has used me so unkindly, I fear it has made me suspicious of everyone.”
― Mary Anning

“In a series of forms graduating insensibly from some apelike creature to man as he now exists, it would be impossible to fix on any definite point where the term 'man' ought to be used.”
― Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man

“Permanence of instinct must go with permanence of form...The history of the present must teach us the history of the past.
[Referring to studying fossil remains of the weevil, largely unchanged to the present day.]”
― Jean-Henri Fabre, The Life and Love of the Insect

“There can be no doubt that the existing Fauna and Flora is but the last term of a long series of equally numerous contemporary species, which have succeeded one another, by the slow and gradual substitution of species for species, in the vast interval of time which has elapsed between the deposition of the earliest fossiliferous strata and the present day.”
― Thomas Henry Huxley, Advance of Science in the Last Half-Century, The

“In the future, it may turn out that fossil fuels are the blood of the Earth and by extracting them may lead to serious consequences to the Earth's survival, and by association, that of the humans.”
― Steven Magee, Solar Radiation, Global Warming and Human Disease

“It is curious why anybody should pooh-pooh a study of fossils or various forms of rocks or lava. Such things grant us our only vision into Natural History’s big book; and it isn't a book in first-class condition. Far from it! Just a tiny scrap; a slip; or, possibly a big chunk is found, with nothing notifying us as to how it got to that particular point, nor how long ago. Man can only look at it, lift it, rap it, cut into it, and squint at it through a magnifying glass. And,— think about it. That’s all; until a formal study brings accompanying thoughts from many minds; and, by such tactics, judging that in all probability such and such a rock or fossil footprint is about so old. Natural History holds you in its grasp through just this impossibility of finding actual facts; for it is thus causing you to think. Now, thinking is not only a voluntary function; it is an acquisition; an art. Plants do not think. Animals probably do, but in a primary way, such as an aid in knowing poisonous foods, and how to bring up an offspring with similar ability. But Man can, and should think, and think hard and constantly. It is ridiculous to rush blindly into an action without looking forward to lay out a plan. Such an unthinking custom is almost a panic, and panic is but a mild form of insanity”
― Ernest Vincent Wright, Gadsby

“Language is fossil poetry”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Sticks and Stones

I dreamt a fossil came to life
and told a tale of his former wife
Did she beat him? Where?
She broke his fingers on the stairs
And tore out lumps of his orange hair
How could she?
Then she gave him pride of place
At an archaeological feast in his honour
A prehistoric horse was the main course!

© Stewart Stafford, 2020. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“There is a significant problem associated with burning large quantities of fossil fuels into the atmosphere. This pollution will change the electromagnetic transmission of the atmosphere and lead to an unnatural electromagnetic environment at the ground level where we all live. Once the electromagnetic environment has been significantly changed by these emissions, then we will be in a new era of evolution. It appears that we have already entered that era some time ago.”
― Steven Magee, Solar Radiation, Global Warming and Human Disease

“What is this animal?”
“A horse.”
The chief smiled slightly, and then shouted something to his men in Sioux. They laughed heartily.
“The white eye should stay out of the sun,” said the chief.
Marsh couldn’t help but become a little defensive.
“Wait. You’ve seen a horse’s bones, haven’t you?”
The chief nodded.
“Look at it closely.”
Marsh held the tiny skull up alongside the head of Red Cloud’s mount, comparing the two. The chief reached down and took the skull gingerly, and peered at it intently, turning it in his enormous but surprisingly dexterous hands.
“A small horse?”
“Precisely,” said Marsh, indicated the size with his hands. “Very small.”
The other Sioux laughed, but Red Cloud was fascinated.
“Where are these small horses? Show me one.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t. They are all dead. They died many, many years ago. Many snows. We search for their bones.”
“Why?”
“To . . . to honor them. To learn from them.”
“They speak to you?”
Marsh smiled. “Oh yes.”
“What do they say?”
“They tell us of their world. A world that has long since vanished.”
The chief looked down at the skull, then at Marsh. He shouted again to his men, in Sioux, and they lowered their rifles. He dismounted and turned to face Marsh.
“I am Red Cloud.”
“My name is Professor Marsh.”
“Marsh.” Red Cloud tested the name out loud, and then nodded in approval. “I will hear what these small horses have to teach.”
― Wynne McLaughlin

“In your hands I am no longer a pile of bones left behind to a world that moved on.”
― Taylor Patton

“We need to stop using fossil fuels as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the two leading replacements of wind and solar have emerging health and environmental problems.”
― Steven Magee

“The energy companies are burning and Venice is drowning.”
― Steven Magee

“There is a false belief that changing from fossil fuels to wind and solar will save the Earth. The reality is that all energy production damages the environment.”
― Steven Magee

“Thick, fragrant loam behind the house, where Astraia and I once dug with our bare hands to plant stolen rose cuttings. Thin gray dust on the summer wind, blown into my mouth to grit against my teeth. Father's rock collection: malachite, rhodonite, and the slab of simple limestone inlaid with the skeleton of a curious fanged bird with claws on its wings.”
― Rosamund Hodge, Cruel Beauty

“The hurricane Ian recovery was fueled by fossil fuels!”
― Steven Magee

“Never heard of category 6 supermassive hurricanes? Keep on burning the fossil fuels and you may get to meet one!”
― Steven Magee

“Category 6 supermassive hurricanes will run on fossil fuel.”
― Steven Magee

“We are in the era of nature disconnection.”
― Steven Magee

“As much as I dislike the fossil fuel industry, I do like driving my car!”
― Steven Magee

“Yes, Dad—
I liked that call we had yesterday.
It carried me hundreds of miles away
to a creek bed in Tennessee.
To those days when we
knew just what to do
with the fragile things.

Those days
when your pick
was steady.”
― Jenny Noble Anderson, But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings