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About this quote

What does it mean?
All living beings inherently strive for improvement or a better condition.
In plain terms
Living things always want to improve their situation.
What can you take from it?
Seek progress in all aspects of life.

Where it applies

  • personal growth
  • social reform
  • biological survival

Putting it to work

  • set goals
  • seek change
  • embrace improvement

Questions to consider

  • What does a better world look like to you?
  • Are you satisfied with your current state?

Another view

Not all striving leads to a better outcome.

More from Karl Popper

  1. 'Natural selection and the emergence of mind' dialectica Vol. 32 (1978), p. 339-355; republished in Evolutionary Epistemology, Rationality, and the Sociology o…

    Permalink to quote #49
  2. The belief in a political Utopia is especially dangerous. This is possibly connected with the fact that the search for a better world, like the investigation o…

    Permalink to quote #51
  3. I have changed my mind about the testability and logical status of the theory of natural selection; and I am glad to have an opportunity to make a recantation.

    Permalink to quote #48

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