It is always with excitement that I wake up in the morning wondering what my intuition will toss up to me, like gifts from the sea. I work with it and rely on it. It's my partner.
Jonas SalkRead
If all the insects were to disappear from the earth, within 50 years all life on earth would end. If all human beings disappeared from the earth, within 50 years all forms of life would flourish.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Insects are crucial to the survival of ecosystems, while humans have a more detrimental impact on the environment.
This quote by Jonas Salk highlights the vital role insects play in maintaining ecological balance; their disappearance would lead to catastrophic consequences for all life on Earth. Conversely, the quote suggests that the absence of humans would allow nature to thrive and rejuvenate, underscoring the impact human activity has on the planet.
Themes
InsectsNatureEcologyLifeEnvironmentHumans
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmental conservation, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of protecting insect populations.
More from Jonas Salk
All quotes →Life is an error-making and an error-correctin g process, and nature in marking man's papers will grade him for wisdom as measured both by survival and by the quality of life of those who survive.
Jonas SalkRead
In my view, art and the approach to life through art, using it as a vehicle for education and even for doing science is so vital that it is part of a great new revolution that is taking place. I believe we are entering a whole new epoch.
Jonas SalkRead
There is hope in dreams, imagination, and in the courage of those who wish to make those dreams a reality.
Jonas SalkRead
Reply when questioned on the safety of the polio vaccine he developed: It is safe, and you can't get safer than safe.
Jonas SalkRead
I'm saying that we should trust our intuition. I believe that the principles of universal evolution are revealed to us through intuition. And I think that if we combine our intuition and our reason, we can respond in an evolutionary sound way to our problems.
Jonas SalkRead
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We had a sunset of a very fine sort. The vast plain of the sea was marked off in bands of sharply-contrasted colors: great stretches of dark blue, others of purple, others of polished bronze; the billowy mountains showed all sorts of dainty browns and greens, blues and purples and blacks, and the rounded velvety backs of certain of them made one want to stroke them, as one would the sleek back of a cat.
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The fact that the colors in the flower have evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting; that means insects can see the colors. That adds a question: does this aesthetic sense we have also exist in lower forms of life?
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We are extremely uncomfortable with the spiritual aspects of gardening, and yet most people feel it in some form or other, even if it's a sense of connection to the greater world on a beautiful day.
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The more separated we become from the Earth, the more hostile we become to the feminine. We disown our passion, our creativity, and our sexuality. Eventually the Earth itself becomes a baneful place. I remember being told by a medicine woman in the Amazon, “Do you know why they are really cutting down the rain forest? Because it is wet and dark and tangled and feminine.
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