Lynn Margulis

evolution linear multidimensional cover surface earth

“Evolution is no linear family tree, but change in the single multidimensional being that has grown to cover the entire surface of Earth.”

― Lynn Margulis (1938-2011)

mutation species new impaired

“New mutations don't create new species; they create offspring that are impaired.”

― Lynn Margulis (1938-2011)

life world combat networking

“Life did not take over the world by combat, but by networking.”

― Lynn Margulis (1938-2011)

A student scientist critical rebel teacher

“What kind of grad student do you take? “I never take a straight A student. A real scientist tends to be critical, and somewhere along the line, they had to rebel against their teachers.”

― Lynn Margulis (1938-2011)

molecular biology live dead cat

“For all the accomplishments of molecular biology, we still can't tell a live cat from a dead cat.”

― Lynn Margulis (1938-2011)

holoscene diversity meteorite

“Possibly here in the Holocene, or just before ten or twenty thousand years ago, life hit a peek of diversity. Then we appeared. We are the great meteorite.”

― Lynn Margulis (1938-2011)

life planet earth 3000 million years human care protect

“Life is a planetary level phenomonon and the Earth has been alive for at least 3000 million years. To me the human move to take responsibility for the living Earth is laughable - the rhethoric of the powerless. The planet takes care of us, not we of it. Our self inflated moral imperative to guide a wayward Earth or heal a sick planet is evidence of our immense capacity for self-delusion. Rather, we need to protect us from ourselves.”

― Lynn Margulis (1938-2011)

saving planet honesty science middle-class cash profit

"The notion of saving the planet has nothing to do with intellectual honesty or science. The fact is that the planet was here long before us and will be here long after us. The planet is running fine. What people are talking about is saving themselves and saving their middle-class lifestyles and saving their cash flow."

― Lynn Margulis (1938-2011)

community bacteria

"We are all of us walking communities of bacteria.

The world shimmers, a pointillist landscape

made of tiny living beings."

― Lynn Margulis (1938-2011)

life earth verb repair maintain re-create outdo

"Life on earth is more like a verb. It repairs, maintains, re-creates, and outdoes itself."

― Lynn Margulis (1938-2011)

caterpillar butterfly

"Everybody knows what a caterpillar is, and it doesn't look anything like a butterfly."

― Lynn Margulis (1938-2011)

body self-repair stomach liver skin metabolism life

"Body concentrates order. It continuously self-repairs. Every five days you get a new stomach lining. You get a new liver every two months. Your skin replaces itself every six weeks. Every year, 98 percent of the atoms of your body are replaced. This non-stop chemical replacement, metabolism, is a sure sign of life."

― Lynn Margulis (1938-2011)

natural selection eliminate maintain create

"Natural selection eliminates and maybe maintains, but it doesn't create."

― Lynn Margulis (1938-2011)

living perceive microorganism survive seek food danger

"All living beings, not just animals, but plants and microorganisms, perceive. To survive, an organic being must perceive - it must seek, or at least recognize, food and avoid environmental danger."

― Lynn Margulis (1938-2011)