We are a spectacular, splendid manifestation of life. We have language.... We have affection We have genes for usefulness, and usefulness is about as close to a "common goal" of nature as I can guess at. And finally, and perhaps best of all, we have music.
Lewis Thomas in The Medusa and the Snail (1979)
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Related quotes
We are a spectacular, splendid manifestation of life. We have language. . . . We have affection We have genes for usefulness, and usefulness is about as close to a 'common goal' of nature as I can guess at. And finally, and perhaps best of all, we have music.
quote by Lewis Thomas
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Maybe altruism is our most primitive attribute out of reach, beyond our control. Or perhaps it is immediately at hand, waiting to be released, disguised now, in our kind of civilization as affection or friendship or attachment. I can’t see why it should be unreasonable for all human beings to have strands of DNA coiled up in chromosomes, coding out instincts for usefulness and helpfulness. Usefulness may turn out to be the hardest test of fitness for survival, more important than aggression, more effective, in the long run, than grabbiness.
quote by Lewis Thomas
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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The nature of an innovation is that it will arise at a fringe where it can afford to become prevalent enough to establish its usefulness without being overwhelmed by the inertia of the orthodox system.
quote by Kevin Kelly
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Music is...
Music is...
Music is expression...
Music is freedom...
Music is the song of life...
Music is notes...
Music is noise...
Music is beat...
Music is relaxing...
Music is peace...
Music is loud...
Music is calm...
Music is meaningful...
Music is sound...
Music is heart...
Music is soul...
Music is mind...
Music is body...
Music is nature...
Music is language...
Music is the song of my life...
Music is everything...
Music is me...
Music is....
poem by Madeline anderson
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The need to write comes from the need to make sense of one's life and discover one's usefulness.
quote by John Cheever
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A drunkard in the gutter is just where he ought to be, according to the fitness and tendency of things. Nature has set upon him the process of decline and dissolution by which she removes things which have survived their usefulness.
quote by William Graham Sumner
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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It is inevitable that those to whom is vouchsafed a long life of usefulness should outlive the friends of their youth.
quote by Cleveland Abbe
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The reason why I take my life is because I want to go to my wife and boy. My usefulness in this world is at an end. I can not be satisfied in any business and can not be without their companionship.
quote by Alex Campbell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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One's Ultimate Achievement
New slogans and fresh quips,
Are in desperate need...
To replace those that have exhausted,
Their usefulness.
A seeking to describe what today now thrives,
Calls for an updated advertising campaign.
To depict the presence of insanity,
As a normalcy sustained is the goal.
With a reach to attain this as fame to claim,
As one's ultimate achievement.
Those go deed doer days are done.
And this is becoming obvious to everyone.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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An eye is small but its usefulness is great.
As for the usefulness of poetry, its uses are many. It is the deification of reality. It should make our days holy to us. The poet should speak to all men, for a moment, of that other life of theirs that they have smothered and forgotten.
quote by Edith Sitwell
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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The vulgar crowd values friends according to their usefulness.
My trophy value exceeded my military usefulness.
quote by Lord Mountbatten
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The press briefing today I believe has lost much of its usefulness.
quote by Marlin Fitzwater
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Besides, my usefulness here is destroyed because all of my friends think me a man of unsound mind.
quote by Alex Campbell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Significance Diminished
A significance diminished,
Increases in its worthlessness.
And an attention given to prevent this...
Decreases the value of a usefulness.
Segmented divisions,
Introduced to initiate fences to separate...
Implemented a hatred to satiate.
And an accepted degrading of others...
Began an effectiveness.
And,
Those then blinded now see...
There is nothing of a nourishment left,
For them to eat.
A feeding on what had been valued,
Depletes in its neccessity!
A significance diminished,
Increases in its worthlessness.
And an attention given to prevent this...
Decreases the value of a usefulness.
And an abuse of respect remembered,
Is difficult to forgive and forget!
Negativity fed does not continue to feed.
A feeding on negativity eventually breeds regret!
And the breeding of regret...
Tarnishes for many what had been significant!
Leaving a significance diminished,
Soggy with tears wept!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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A person's worth is quite independent of their usefulness to society.
quote by Kjell Magne Bondevik
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.
quote by Theodore Roosevelt
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A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.
quote by Theodore Roosevelt
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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