Policy Quotes (4)
Any policy is a success by sufficiently low standards and a failure by sufficiently high standards.
'Penetrating the Rhetoric', The Vision of the Anointed (1996), 102.
Evolution is the law of policies: Darwin said it, Socrates endorsed it, Cuvier proved it and established it for all time in his paper on 'The Survival of the Fittest.' These are illustrious names, this is a mighty doctrine: nothing can ever remove it from its firm base, nothing dissolve it, but evolution.
'Three Thousand Years Among the Microbes', Which Was the Dream? (1967), Chap. 8. In Mark Twain and Brian Collins (ed.), When in Doubt, Tell the Truth: and Other Quotations from Mark Twain (1996), 47.
See also: | Base (2) | Baron Georges Cuvier (19) | Charles Darwin (170) | Dissolve (2) | Doctrine (12) | Establish (3) | Evolution (229) | Law (134) | Name (18) | Proof (59) | Publication (60) | Remove (4) | Socrates (3) | Survival Of The Fittest (23)
Indeed, not all attacks—especially the bitter and ridiculing kind leveled at Darwin—are offered in good faith, but for practical purposes it is good policy to assume that they are.
From Dream to Discovery: On Being a Scientist (1964), 157
See also: | Assumption (3) | Attack (2) | Bitter (3) | Charles Darwin (170) | Faith (28) | Practical (10) | Purpose (15) | Ridicule (3)
Scientists themselves readily admit that they do not fully understand the consequences of our many-faceted assault upon the interwoven fabric of atmosphere, water, land and life in all its biological diversity. But things could also turn out to be worse than the current scientific best guess. In military affairs, policy has long been based on the dictum that we should be prepared for the worst case. Why should it be so different when the security is that of the planet and our long-term future?
Speech, 'Global Security Lecture' at Cambridge University (28 Apr 1993).
See also: | Biology (42) | Consequence (10) | Diversity (16) | Fabric (3) | Future (29) | Guess (5) | Land (4) | Life (155) | Military (4) | Planet (34) | Scientist (71) | Security (3) | Understanding (94) | Water (35) | Worst (2)
