The bond with a true dog is as lasting as the ties of this earth will ever be.
Man has been driven out of the paradise in which he could trust his instincts.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on humanity's disconnection from a natural state of instinctual trust and connection to the world.
Konrad Lorenz's quote highlights a profound loss that humanity experiences: the departure from a primal paradise where individuals could fully rely on their instincts. In modern society, the complexities and artificial constructs surrounding us often lead to mistrust in our innate feelings and intuitions, suggesting a longing for a time when life was simpler and more aligned with our natural instincts.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about how modern life impacts our decision-making, one could invoke Lorenz's quote to emphasize the importance of reconnecting with our instincts.
More from Konrad Lorenz
All quotes βWhenever we find, in two forms of life that are unrelated to each other, a similarity of form or of behaviour patterns which relates to more than a few minor details, we assume it to be caused by parallel adaptation to the same life-preserving function.
I grew up in the large house and the larger garden of my parents in Altenberg. They were supremely tolerant of my inordinate love for animals.
More than any other product of human scientific culture scientific knowledge is the collective property of all mankind.
In nature we find not only that which is expedient, but also everything which is not so inexpedient as to endanger the existence of the species.
Most people have forgotten how to live with living creatures, with living systems and that, in turn, is the reason why man, whenever he comes into contact with nature, threatens to kill the natural system in which and from which he live.
Similar quotes
My belief is that the various religious traditions have great potential to increase compassion, the sense of caring for one another, and the spirit of reconciliation. However, I believe that a human being, without religious faith, can be a very good person - sincere, a good heart, having a sense of concern for others - without belief in a particular religious faith.
Does history repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce? No, that's too grand, too considered a process. History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago.
You don't know what to say to me because the kingdom is within...flesh and blood's dream...so you fly now, pay later, all of us...I mean actually it's PAY NOW, FLY LATER
I hate to see complacency prevail in our lives when it's so directly contrary to the teaching of Christ.
They can print statistics and count the populations in hundreds of thousands, but to each man a city consists of no more than a few streets, a few houses, a few people. Remove those few and a city exists no longer except as a pain in the memory, like a pain of an amputated leg no longer there.
I woke up one day and thought: 'I want to write a book about the history of my body.' I could justify talking about my mother because it was in her body that my body began.