Skip to content
quotesby

Man emerged as the dominant type on earth about a million years ago, but has only been really effective as a psychosocial organism for under ten thousand years. In that mere second of cosmic time, he has produced astonishing achievements - but has also been guilty of unprecedented horrors and follies. And looked at in the long perspective of evolution he is singularly imperfect, still incapable of carrying out his planetary responsibilities in a satisfactory manner...

Julian Huxley#21

EvolutionFutureHumanityFlawsHistoryImperfectionResponsibility

About this quote

What does it mean?
Humans have achieved great things quickly but remain imperfect and unable to manage planetary responsibilities.
In plain terms
Humans achieve much but are still flawed and irresponsible.
What can you take from it?
Recognize human potential and its current limits.

Where it applies

  • environmental policy
  • historical analysis
  • education

Putting it to work

  • take responsibility
  • acknowledge flaws

Questions to consider

  • What are our planetary responsibilities?
  • How flawed are we?

Another view

The timeline estimates are speculative and vary by scientific view.

More from Julian Huxley

  1. This earth is one of the rare spots in the cosmos where mind has flowered. Man is a product of nearly three billion years of evolution, in whose person the evo…

    Permalink to quote #20
  2. Religion in some form is a universal function of man in society, the organ for dealing with the problems of destiny, the destiny of individual men and women, o…

    Permalink to quote #22
  3. The entire cosmos is made out of one and the same world-stuff, operated by the same energy as we ourselves. 'Mind' and 'matter' appears as two aspects of our u…

    Permalink to quote #19

Related quotes

  1. Think of your forefathers! Think of your posterity!

    John Quincy AdamsJohn Quincy Adams quote #1
  2. As a consequence of the slavish 'categoryitis' the scientifically illogical, and as we shall see, often meaningless questions 'Where do you live?' 'What are yo…

    Buckminster FullerBuckminster Fuller quote #19
  3. This earth is one of the rare spots in the cosmos where mind has flowered. Man is a product of nearly three billion years of evolution, in whose person the evo…

    Julian HuxleyJulian Huxley quote #20