Stephen Jay Gould – Quote Investigator®

Quote Origin: I Regret To Report That There Is Surely No Such Thing as a Fish

Stephen Jay Gould? George Lakoff? Delta Willis? Steven Pinker? Stephen Fry? Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent scientist apparently made the following surprising pronouncement: There is no such thing as a fish. I do not recall the precise phrasing. Would you please explore the provenance and interpretation of this statement? Reply from Quote Investigator: In …

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Quote Origin: Give Me a Good Fruitful Error Any Time, Full of Seeds, Bursting with Its Own Corrections

Vilfredo Pareto? John Bartlett? Charles P. Curtis Jr.? Ferris Greenslet? Stephen Jay Gould? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Scientific observations are often inexact. Yet, this inexactitude can be helpful because it facilitates the formulation of theories that generate predictions which are approximately correct. These intermediary theories are valuable because they provide a stepping stone toward …

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