The statistical probability that organic structures and the most precisely harmonized reactions that typify living organisms would be generated by accident, is zero.
Ilya PrigogineRead
The main character of any living system is openness.
Interpretation
Openness is fundamental to the essence and functionality of living systems.
Ilya Prigogine's quote highlights the importance of openness as a defining characteristic of living systems. This openness refers to the ability to interact, adapt, and evolve in response to external influences, which is essential for the complexity and sustainability of life.
In practice
In a scientific presentation about ecological systems, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of adaptability.
I know this is insane, but i somehow wish i had been in auschwitz with my parents so i could really know what they lived through! I guess it's some kind of guilt about having had an easier life than they did.
To hear of a thousand deaths in war is terrible, and we 'know' that it is. But as it registers on our hearts, it is not more terrible than one death fully imagined.
Really high-minded people are indifferent to happiness, especially other people's.
Life is not governed by will or intention. Life is a question of nerves, and fibres, and slowly built-up cells in which thought hides itself and passion has its dreams.
Our life is always deeper than we know, is always more divine than it seems, and hence we are able to survive degradations and despairs which otherwise must engulf us.
His lordship may compel us to be equal upstairs, but there will never be equality in the servants' hall.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.