I did not claim that speciation occurs only in founder populations.

All I claimed was that when a drastic change occurs, it occurs in a relatively small and isolated population.

Most of them are doomed to rapid extinction, but a few may make evolutionary inventions, such as physiological, ecological, or behavioral innovations that give these species improved competitive potential.

Life is simply the reification of the process of living.

Evolution thus is merely contingent on certain processes articulated by Darwin: variation and selection.

The major novelty of my theory was its claim that the most rapid evolutionary change does not occur in widespread, populous species, as claimed by Most geneticists, but in small founder populations.

It seems to me that for Darwin the pulsing of evolutionary rates was a strictly vertical phenomenon.

I did not claim that speciation occurs only in founder populations.

According to the concept of transformational evolution, first clearly articulated by Lamarck, evolution consists of the gradual transformation of organisms from one condition of existence to another.

As a consequence, geneticists described evolution simply as a change in gene frequencies in populations, totally ignoring the fact that evolution consists of the two simultaneous but quite separate phenomena of adaptation and diversification.

Living in an entirely different physical as well as biotic environment, such a population would have unique opportunities to enter new niches and to select novel adaptive pathways.

New gene pools are generated in every generation, and evolution takes place because the successful individuals produced by these gene pools give rise to the next generation.

I had found again and again that the most aberrant population of a species - often having reached species rank, and occasionally classified even as a separate genus - occurred at a peripheral location, indeed usually at the most isolated peripheral location.

Indeed, I was unable to find any evidence whatsoever of the occurrence of a drastic evolutionary acceleration and genetic reconstruction in widespread, populous species.

In those early years in New York when I was a stranger in a big city, it was the companionship and later friendship which I was offered in the Linnean Society that was the most important thing in my life.

In neither his definition nor the examples illustrating what memes are does Dawkins mention anything that would distinguish memes from concepts.

Scientific progress consists in the development of new concepts.

If you leave the smallest corner of your head vacant for a moment, other people's opinions will rush in from all quarters.

Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.

I'm a radical, and I always have been.

When I competed, it was for honor and country. It was a privilege to be a part of the U.S. team.

Patriotism is one of the unalterable facts of man's nature. It is a virtue if you like it, and a vice if you don't like it.

There's this idea that when you turn 40, you automatically go to adult contemporary heaven, but I want to try and challenge that.

Conflict is easy because we've all had conflict, but to really bond with someone and to have a genuine connection, it needs to come from a place by knowing them.

I'm from Texas, and Texas has a reputation that far precedes actual Texas, and it is irritating sometimes.

Whoever said Its not whether you win or lose that counts probably lost.

Mothers have this huge influence, and I feel like they're always teaching us from the day we're born what to be afraid of, what to be cautious of, what we should like, and what we should look like.

I went to a shrink once, but I caught him going to a fortune-teller so I quit.

Following your passion is far more fulfilling than following the money.

I held a variety of jobs - most notably ten years working in universities - and kept on writing.

For the wretched one night is like a thousand; for someone faring well death is just one more night.

How wrong is it for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself?

Buzz and the right publicist are not only important but crucial in show business.

It is true that many of the Sea Shepherd crewmembers are inexperienced, but the fact is that these volunteers bring a passion to the project that cannot be found in a hired crew.

I am still married, yes - no children. I have Benzo, though; he's my dog, a Lhasa apso.

But I think the possibility of a black and white society feeding each other's expertises, living harmoniously, will probably go along in fits and starts now but at least it has a great constitution now to back it up.

Reason is a necessary instrument, to be used for good or evil, but it has no moral qualities.

We know we're going to go through ups and downs and we've all experienced that, but it's about surrendering some of that control, which we all find so hard to do, but it's really freeing when you can do that.

We have reached a milestone in our understanding of nature. The discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson opens the way to more detailed studies, requiring larger statistics, which will pin down the new particle's properties, and is likely to shed light on other mysteries of our universe.

I think there are lots of ways to make good work. You can throw big bucks at a project and make what some would call crap, or you can work very modestly with eloquently moving results.

If someone grabbed me, I'd probably be able to choke them out in about eight seconds.