The Naked Ape Quotes

“I viewed my fellow man not as a fallen angel, but as a risen ape.”
― Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape

“Frequently we imagine that we are behaving in a particular way because such behaviour accords with some abstract, lofty code of moral principles, when in reality all we are doing is obeying a deeply ingrained and long ‘forgotten’ set of purely imitative impressions.”
― Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape

“The news that is brought to us is nearly always bad news, but for every act of violence or destruction that occurs there are a million acts of peaceful friendliness.”
― Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape

“In an earlier chapter I mentioned recent research which has shown that the preference for sweet and fruity odours falls off dramatically at puberty, when there is a shift in favour of flowery, oily and musky odours. The juvenile weakness for sweetness can be easily exploited, and frequently is.”
― Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape

“As a species we are a predominantly intelligent and exploratory animal, and beliefs harnessed to this fact will be the most beneficial for us. A belief in the validity of the acquisition of knowledge and a scientific understanding of the world we live in, the creation and appreciation of aesthetic phenomena in all their many forms, and the broadening and deepening of our range of experiences in day-to-day living, is rapidly becoming the 'religion' of our time. Experience and understanding are our rather abstract god-figures, and ignorance and stupidity will make them angry. Our schools and universities are our religious training centres, our libraries, museums, art galleries, theatres, concert halls and sports arenas are our places of communal worship. At home we worship with our books. newspapers. magazines, radios and television sets. In a sense, we still believe in an after-life, because part of the reward obtained from our creative works is the feeling that, through them, we will 'live on' after we are dead. Like all religions, this one has its dangers, but if we have to have one, and it seems that we do, then it certainly appears to be the one most suitable for the unique biological qualities of our species. Its adoption by an ever-growing majority of the world population can serve as a compensating and reassuring source of optimism to set against the pessimism (...) concerning our immediate future as a surviving species.”
― Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape

“A prima vista, è sorprendente che la religione abbia avuto tanto successo, ma la sua estrema potenza è semplicemente dovuta alla forza della nostra fondamentale tendenza biologica, ereditata direttamente dai nostri antenati scimmie e scimmioni, a sottometterci a un membro del gruppo onnipotente e dominatore."
da La Scimmia Nuda di Desmond Morris”
― Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape

“...we are, despite all our great technological advances, still very much a simple biological phenomenon. Despite our grandiose ideas and our lofty self-conceits, we are still humble animals, subject to all the basic laws of animal behavior..."
- Desmond Morris from 'The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal

[...] nonostante i grandi progressi tecnologici, noi siamo ancora fondamentalmente un semplice fenomeno biologico e, malgrado le nostre idee grandiose e l'alto concetto che abbiamo di noi stessi, siamo ancora degli umili animali, soggetti a tutte le leggi fondamentali del comportamento animale.”
― Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape

“Por estudios realizados sobre otras especies en estado de superpoblación experimental, sabemos que llega un momento en el que el aumento de densidad de población alcanza un punto extremo en el que se destruye toda la estructura social.”
― Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape

“Detrás de la fachada de la ciudad moderna, sigue morando el viejo mono desnudo. Sólo los nombres han cambiado: en vez de caza, decimos "trabajo"; en vez de campo de caza, "barrio comercial", en vez de cubil, "hogar", en vez de apareamiento, "matrimonio"; en vez de compañera, "esposa", etcétera.”
― Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape

“Hemos llegado al punto en que debemos dejar de sentirnos satisfechos, la solución es evidente: reducir el ritmo de la natalidad, sin poner obstáculos a la estructura social existente; evitar un aumento en cantidad, sin impedir un aumento en calidad.”
― Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape

“كثيرا ما نجد أصحاب السيارات يعلقون تمائم جالبة للحظ او أشياء شخصية مثل ما يضع مدراء المكاتب صور او أغراض شخصية فهـم يفعلون ذلك لتمييز حدودهم الجغرافية الفردية”
― Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape

“Por muy grandiosas que sean nuestras ideas y por muy orgullosos que nos sintamos de ellas, seguimos siendo humildes animales, sometidos a todas las leyes básicas del comportamiento animal. Mucho antes de que nuestra población alcance los niveles que se dejan apuntados, habremos quebrantado un número tan grande de las normas que rigen nuestra naturaleza biológica, que nos habremos derrumbado como especie dominante. Tendemos a dejarnos llevar a la extraña ilusión de que esto no ocurrirá jamás, de que hay en nosotros algo especial que nos sitúa por encima del control biológico. Pero no es así. Muchas especies interesantes se han extinguido en el pasado, y nosotros no constituimos la excepción. Más pronto o más tarde, nos iremos y dejaremos nuestro sitio a algo distinto. Si queremos que esto tarde en ocurrir, debemos estudiarnos a fondo como ejemplares biológicos, y darnos cuenta de nuestras limitaciones.”
― Desmond Morris, El mono desnudo