"If the world is saved, it will not be saved by old minds with new programs but by new minds with no programs at all."
— Daniel Quinn (The Story of B: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit)

"Thinkers aren't limited by what they know, because they can always increase what they know. Rather they're limited by what puzzles them, because there's no way to become curious about something that doesn't puzzle you."
— Daniel Quinn (My Ishmael)

"There is no one right way to live."
— Daniel Quinn (Ishmael)

"Our lifestyle is evolutionarily unstable--and is therefore in the process of eliminating itself in the perfectly ordinary way."
— Daniel Quinn

"The world must live. We are only one species among billions. The gods don't love us any more than they love spiders or bears or whales or water lilies."
— Daniel Quinn

"Man's destiny was to conquer and rule the world, and this is what he's done.. almost. He hasn't quite made it, and it looks as though this may be his undoing. The problem is that man's conquest of the world has itself devastated the world. And in spite of all the mastery we've attained, we don't have enough mastery to stop devastating the world.. or to repair the devastation we've already wrought."
— Daniel Quinn

"But why? Why do you need prophets to tell you how you ought to live? Why do you need anyone to tell you how you ought to live"
— Daniel Quinn (Ishmael)

"And every time the Takers stamp out a Leaver culture, a wisdom ultimately tested since the birth of mankind disappears from the world beyond recall."
— Daniel Quinn (Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit)

"Everyone in your culture knows this. Man was born to turn the world into paradise, but tragically he was born flawed. And so his paradise has always been spoiled by stupidty, greed, destructiveness, and shortsightedness.
"
— Daniel Quinn (Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit)

"You shouldn't have to settle for rabbits if what you want is deer"
— Daniel Quinn (Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit)

"
Yes,I'm afraid you're right. Trial and error isn't a bad way to learn how to build an aircraft,but it can be a disastrous way to learn how to build a civilization."
— Daniel Quinn

"I have amazing news for you. Man is not alone on this planet. He is part of a community, upon which he depends absolutely."
— Daniel Quinn (Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit)

"The greatest discovery any alien anthropologist could make about our culture is our overriding response to failure: If it didn't work last year, do it AGAIN this year (and if possible do it MORE)"
— Daniel Quinn (Beyond Civilization: Humanity's Next Great Adventure)

"The ship was sinking---and sinking fast. The captain told the passengers and crew, "We've got to get the lifeboats in the water right away."
But the crew said, "First we have to end capitalist oppression of the working class. Then we'll take care of the lifeboats."

Then the women said, "First we want equal pay for equal work. The lifeboats can wait."

The racial minorities said, "First we need to end racial discrimination. Then seating in the lifeboats will be allotted fairly."

The captain said, "These are all important issues, but they won't matter a damn if we don't survive. We've got to lower the lifeboats right away!"

But the religionists said, "First we need to bring prayer back into the classroom. This is more important than lifeboats."

Then the pro-life contingent said, "First we must outlaw abortion. Fetuses have just as much right to be in those lifeboats as anyone else."

The right-to-choose contingent said, "First acknowledge our right to abortion, then we'll help with the lifeboats."

The socialists said, "First we must redistribute the wealth. Once that's done everyone will work equally hard at lowering the lifeboats."

The animal-rights activists said, "First we must end the use of animals in medical experiments. We can't let this be subordinated to lowering the lifeboats."

Finally the ship sank, and because none of the lifeboats had been lowered, everyone drowned.

The last thought of more than one of them was, "I never dreamed that solving humanity's problems would take so long---or that the ship would sink so SUDDENLY."
"
— Daniel Quinn

""five severed fingers do not make a hand""
— Daniel Quinn

"There is no secret knowledge; no one knows anything that can't be found on a shelf in the public library."
— Daniel Quinn (Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit)

"We're straying from the path of salvation because we remember that we once belonged to the world and were content in that belonging."
— Daniel Quinn

"Once you learn to discern the voice of Mother Culture humming in the background, telling her story over and over again to the people of your culture, you’ll never stop being conscious of it. Wherever you go for the rest of your life, you’ll be tempted to say to the people around you, “how can you listen to this stuff and not recognize it for what it is?"
— Daniel Quinn (Ishmael)

"In effect, you're saying that if you knew how you oughtt to live, then the flaw is man could be controlled. If you knew how you ought to live, you wouldn't be forever screwing up the world. perhaps in fact the two things are actually one thing. Perhaps the flaw in man is exactly this: that he doesn't know how he ought to live."
— Daniel Quinn

"Everyone in your culture knows this. Man was born to turn the world into paradise, but tragically he was born flawed. And so his paradise has always been spoiled by stupidty, greed, destructiveness, and shortsightedness."
— Daniel Quinn

"Wherever you go..., you'll see Heaven and Hell on every side... in us. Look for them and you'll soon know them. There on your left, Hell shuffles by, carrying a reluctant, gloomy chicken, his only comrade. There on your right, Heaven spring past, singing - a lunatic, a little too much for civilized contact.

Just the way it always was."
— Daniel Quinn (Newcomer's Guide to the Afterlife: On the Other Side Known Commonly As "The Little Book")

"The world of the Takers is one vast prison, and except for a handful of Leavers scattered across the world, the entire human race is now inside that prison."
— Daniel Quinn (Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit)

"Yes,I'm afraid you're right. Trial and error isn't a bad way to learn how to build an aircraft,but it can be a disastrous way to laern how to build a civilization."
— Daniel Quinn

""Everyone in your culture knows this. Man was born to turn the world into paradise, but tragically he was born flawed. And so his paradise has always been spoiled by stupidty, greed, destructiveness, and shortsightedness."
"
— Daniel Quinn