In fact, death seems to have been a rather late invention in evolution. One can go a long way in evolution before encountering an authentic corpse.
George WaldRead
Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote warns about the urgent need for action to address humanity's challenges to avoid potential civilization collapse.
George Wald's quote highlights the critical state of humanity and the pressing issues we face that could lead to catastrophic consequences for civilization. It serves as a call to action, emphasizing that without immediate and decisive measures to tackle these problems, the future of society is at risk within a relatively short time frame.
Themes
CivilizationActionMankindProblemsUrgent
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech addressing environmental issues, one might use this quote to insist on immediate actions for sustainability.
More from George Wald
All quotes βI have lived much of my life among molecules. They are good company. I tell my students to try to know molecules, so well that when they have some question involving molecules, they can ask themselves, What would I do if I were that molecule? I tell them, Try to feel like a molecule; and if you work hard, who knows? Some day you may get to feel like a big molecule!
George WaldRead
Our challenge is to give what account we can of what becomes of life in the solar system, this corner of the universe that is our home; and, most of all, what becomes of men-all men, of all nations, colors, and creeds. This has become one world, a world for all men. It is only such a world that can now offer us life, and the chance to go on.
George WaldRead
Evolution advances, not by a priori design, but by the selection of what works best out of whatever choices offer. We are the products of editing, rather than of authorship.
George WaldRead
Nuclear weapons offer us nothing but a balance of terror, and a balance of terror is still terror.
George WaldRead
I think if a physician wrote on a death certificate that old age was the cause of death, he'd be thrown out of the union. There is always some final event, some failure of an organ, some last attack of pneumonia, that finishes off a life. No one dies of old age.
George WaldRead
Similar quotes
I would like to make sure, first of all, that our women in the informal sector - I mean, these are the farmers and the traders; many of them are not educated, many of them lacking literacy - be able to give them better working conditions. And we've done a lot to be able to achieve that.
Ellen Johnson SirleafRead
For things to change you need to change. For things to get better you need to get better. The good news is you can change, you can get better and you can start right where you are at and you can go as far as you want to go.
Jim RohnRead
I am running into a new year and the old years blow back like a wind that I catch in my hair like strong fingers like all my old promises and it will be hard to let go of what I said to myself about myself when I was sixteen and twenty-six and thirty-six but I am running into a new year and I beg what i love and I leave to forgive me.
Lucille CliftonRead
If you would one day renovate yourself, do so from day to day.
ConfuciusRead
With this emergence of big data and social mobility, you will, in fact, see the death of 'average,' Instead, you will see the era of you.
Ginni RomettyRead
Illness strikes men when they are exposed to change.
HerodotusRead