Georges Cuvier
A founder of paleontology and comparative anatomy, known for his work on extinction and his opposition to evolutionary theories.
Most quoted
"The animal kingdom, viewed in its entirety, presents a vast and complex network of relationships, where every part is connected to every other part, and where the destruction of one link can reverberate throughout the whole."
— from Le Règne Animal distribué d'après son organisation
"Every organized being forms a whole, a unique and closed system, of which all the parts mutually correspond and concur to the same definitive action by a reciprocal reaction."
— from The Animal Kingdom, 1817
"Our consciousness allows us to reflect on our own mortality, to ponder the meaning of our brief existence, and to seek solace in the enduring patterns of the natural world."
— from Discourse on the Revolutions of the Surface of the Globe
All quotes by Georges Cuvier (414)
In every lecture, a spark of inspiration.
Boundaries of species are nature's sacred lines.
The animal kingdom is a vast and complex machine, and every part of it is perfectly adapted to its function.
Nothing exists in nature but individuals, and these individuals are always in relation to each other.
The teeth, the jaws, the bones, the muscles, all bear the imprint of the animal's habits.
The principle of the correlation of parts is the key to understanding the organization of living beings.
A single bone, a single tooth, often suffices to determine the species, and even the genus, of an animal.
The present is the key to the past.
Nature never makes leaps.
The history of the earth is written in its rocks.
Species are fixed and immutable.
The more we know of the works of nature, the more we are convinced of the wisdom of its Author.
The study of fossils is the most direct path to understanding the history of life on Earth.
Every organized being forms a whole, a unique and closed system, whose parts mutually correspond and concur to the same definitive action by a reciprocal reaction.
The number of species that have successively inhabited the earth is not infinite.
The animal is a machine, but a living machine.
The great catastrophes which have changed the face of the globe have also changed the forms of life.
The study of comparative anatomy is the most certain guide in the classification of animals.
The order of nature is immutable.
The species which exist today are not the same as those which existed in former times.
Contemporaries of Georges Cuvier
Other Biologys born within 50 years of Georges Cuvier (1769–1832).