Madame Bovary's Ovaries Quotes

“It is seductive to be a good listener no less than a questioner, and once again we suspect this is because listening is another sign of reproductively relevant good behavior: taking the time to really listen to someone indicates attentiveness and hence a greater probability of committing oneself to the person being attended to, of being more likely to stick around and help out when things get tough, and so forth.”
― David P. Barash, Madame Bovary's Ovaries: A Darwinian Look at Literature

“In the world of most living things, neediness isn't especially attractive; wealthiness is.”
― David P. Barash, Madame Bovary's Ovaries: A Darwinian Look at Literature

“Thus, prior to the cultural homogenization of the last few centuries, upward of 85 percent of human societies were preferentially polygynous. For yet more evidence of our polygynous patriarchy, look at boy-girl differences at the age of sexual maturation. Girls grow up several years earlier than boys, a pattern that is consistent with polygyny in other animals:”
― David Philip Barash, Madame Bovary's Ovaries: A Darwinian Look at Literature

“After all, looking around, we see bodies, not naked genes. Bodies, bodies everywhere: eating, sleeping, being eaten, growing, reproducing, laughing, lounging, walking, running, swimming, hopping and slithering their way to...what? To either success or failure, as measured by how well they project their component genes into the future.”
― Nanelle Barash, Madame Bovary's Ovaries: A Darwinian Look at Literature

“Anyone wanting to get a sense of human nature in, say, the Bronze Age can do no better than to excavate among the words of Homer, or for the Elizabethan Age, Shakespeare.”
― David P. Barash, Madame Bovary's Ovaries: A Darwinian Look at Literature