The Quote Mine Project

• Contents
• How to search for quotes
• Evolution of the Quote Mine Project / What's New
• Quote Mine Project introduction
• Introduction for second collection on Darwin
• Introduction for third collection on Gould and Eldredge
• Introduction for fourth collection

Derek Ager

• Fossils are the best and most accurate method of dating rocks - Ager

Edmund J. Ambrose

• Nothing contrary to conservative creationists -- Ambrose

Merle d'Aubigne

• Origin of life is still a mystery -- d'Aubigne

Jerry Adler

• Evidence from fossils now points overwhelmingly away from the classical Darwinism - Adler

Francisco Ayala

• Difficult to establish phylogeny -- Ayala and Valentine

Larry Azar

• Isn't it circular that evolution is documented by geology and geology is documented by evolution - Azar

Stefan Bengtson

• Paleontologists cheat in reconstructing animals -- Bengtsons

L. C. Birch

• Evolution cannot be refuted by any possible observations - Ehrlich and Birch

Peter J. Bowler

• Fossils do not reveal gradual transformations -- Bowler

Aart. Brouwer

• Transitional forms are inordinately scarce -- Brouwer

Frank M. Carpenter

• There are no transitional fossils showing the origin of insects - Carpenter

E.J.H. Corner

• Plant fossils favor creation -- Corner

Jerry A. Coyne

• Theoretical foundations and the experimental evidence for neo-Darwinism is weak - Orr and Coyne

Joel L. Cracraft

• Difficult to find fossils intermediate in morphology and stratigraphic position -- Cracraft
• Deep dark secrets of paleontology -- Cracraft

Sir Francis Crick

• Origin of life appears to be almost a miracle -- Crick

Mark Czarnecki

• The major problem in proving evolution is the fossil record -- Czarnecki

Charles Robert Darwin

• We cannot prove a single species has changed -- Darwin
• Rightfully reject my whole theory -- Darwin
• My theory would absolutely break down -- Darwin
• That fact would be fatal to the theory of descent -- Darwin
• Darwin conscious that his work was speculation beyond bounds of true science -- Darwin
• Darwin admits his book is too hypothetical and authors persuade themselves of own dogma -- Darwin
• Darwin admits facts can be shown against all points he made in Origin of Species -- Darwin
• Darwin admits that the fossil record presents valid arguments against his theory -- Darwin
• Darwin staggered by the grave difficulties in his theory -- Darwin
• Darwin admits that innumerable transitional fossils called for by his theory are not found -- Darwin
• Darwin admits that he cannot prove any species has changed due to Natural Selection -- Darwin
• Evolution of the eye is absurd -- Darwin
• Follow those impulses and instincts which are the strongest or which seem best -- Darwin
• Abominable mystery -- Darwin
• The most obvious and serious objection against the theory -- Darwin
• Devoted myself to a fantasy -- Darwin
• Civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races - Darwin
• Civilized Caucasian races will eliminate the lower races - Darwin

Richard Dawkins

• Punctuationists and gradualists both agree the gaps are real -- Dawkins

Betsy Dexter Dyer

• The eukaryotic cell is a kind of wonderland fantasy biologists construct in their imaginations - Dyer and Obar

Sir John Eccles

• No recognizable way for conscience life to have emerged -- Eccles

Paul R. Ehrlich

• Evolution cannot be refuted by any possible observations - Ehrlich and Birch

Niles Eldredge (often mispelled "Niles Eldridge")

• Sudden diversification of multi-cellular life -- Eldredge
• Taxa appear suddenly -- Eldredge
• Paleontologists say fossils support gradualism knowing that it does not -- Eldredge
• Trends are after the fact render of evolutionary history -- Eldredge
• Taxa appear suddenly and without intermediates -- Eldredge
• Members of a biota remain stable -- Eldredge
• Paleontologists have been searching in vain -- Eldredge
• Gaps can not be easily explained by poor fossil record -- Eldredge
• Absence of gradual intermediate transitional forms -- Eldredge
• We date rocks by their fossils and can't then talk about evolutionary patterns in the record - Eldredge
• Evolution never seems to happen - Eldredge
• Fossil record flatly fails to substantiate finely-graded change -- Eldredge and Tattersall
• Paleontologists knew it but preferred to ignore it -- Eldredge and Tattersall
• No empirical evidence for sustained trends -- Gould and Eldredge
• Smooth intermediates are impossible to construct; mosaics like Archaeopteryx do not count - Gould and Eldredge

Douglas H. Erwin

• Transitionals between taxa are unknown; neither gradualism nor punctuated equilibrium explain changes in body plans - Valentine and Erwin

Albert Fleischmann

• Evolution has grave defects -- Fleischmann

Peter L. Forey

• Fossils cloud attempts at phylogeny -- Fortey

Douglas J. Futuyma

• Fossil record has disappointingly few gradual series -- Futuyma
• Major groups appear suddenly -- Futuyma

William Henry "Bill" Gates III

• DNA is like a program -- Gates

Henry Gee

• New fossils forced into prexisting stories -- Gee
• The very idea of the missing link, always shaky, is now completely untenable -- Gee

Stephen Jay Gould

• Multicellular animals appear with a bang -- Gould
• Fossils caused Darwin more grief than joy -- Gould
• Nothing much happens to most species -- Gould
• Non-change was tacitly acknowledged -- Gould
• Fossil record has precious little intermediate forms -- Gould
• Paleontologists paid enormous price for Darwin's argument -- Gould
• Paleontologists have long known about stasis and abrupt appearance -- Gould
• Inability to construct functional intermediates -- Gould
• The notion of species as 'natural kinds' fits splendidly with creationist tenets - Gould
• The extreme rarity of transitional forms persist as the trade secret of paleontology - Gould
• Three coexisting lineages of hominids refute evolutionary ladder - Gould
• We cannot trace any fossil ape to any living species; just when our lineage began is where no fossil evidence exists - Gould
• Hominid fossils are mere fragments and scraps and only a basis for speculation and storytelling - Gould
• An error in a program generating evolutionary trees debunked an African source for humans - Gould
• Failure to find a clear 'vector of progress' in life's history is most puzzling fact of fossil record - Gould
• The fossil record with its abrupt transitions offers no support for gradual change - Gould
• I can envision observations and experiments that would disprove any evolutionary theory - Gould
• The Discovery Institute Quote Mines Stephen Jay Gould
• Smooth intermediates are impossible to construct; mosaics like Archaeopteryx do not count - Gould and Eldredge
• No empirical evidence for sustained trends -- Gould and Eldredge
• Little evidence for phyletic gradualism -- Gould, Luria, and Singer

The Guardian Weekly

• No evidence for transitional creatures -- The Guardian Weekly

Roger Haines, Jr.

• Macroevolution fails at every level -- Haines

Francis Hitching

• Constancy about the fossil gaps -- Hitching

Kenneth J. Hsü

• The Darwinian Fallacy is an emperor without clothes - Hsü

David Jablonski

• No phylum level designs since Cambrian -- Valentine and Jablonski

Glenn L. Jepsen

• Links missing where we most want them -- Jepsen, Mayr, and Simpson

Judge John Edward Jones III

• The Discovery Institute Quote Mines Judge Jones

J. S. Jones

• Too few fossils to support human evolution -- J. S. Jones

Robert Jostrow

• No proof life was not created -- Jostrow

Sir Arthur Keith

• Unproved and unprovable -- Keith
• The law of Christ is incompatible with the law of evolution -- Keith

Tom S. Kemp

• Evolutionary interpretation is a circular argument -- Kemp

Gerald A. Kerkut

• No definitive evidence that viruses, bacteria, or protozoa are inter-related -- Kerkut

David B. Kitts

• Fossils do not prove that evolution occurs -- Kitts
• Evolution requires intermediate forms and paleontology does not provide -- Kitts
• Danger of circularity is still present - Kitts

H. J. Lipson

• The only acceptable explanation is creation -- Lipson

Salvador Edward Luria

• Little evidence for phyletic gradualism -- Gould, Luria, and Singer

L. Harrison Matthews

• Evolution is an unproven theory and therefore exactly parallel to special creation - Matthews

Ernst Mayr

• Contradiction of Darwin's gradualism and paleontology -- Mayr
• Links missing where we most want them -- Jepsen, Mayr, and Simpson

John F. McDonald

• The last 20 years of research has led us to a great Darwinian paradox - McDonald

Chris McGowan

• We have many gaps in key areas -- McGowan

Robert A. Millikan

• No scientists can prove evolution -- Millikan

Louis T. More

• Based on faith alone -- More

George T. Neville

• No need to apologize for the fossil record -- Neville

Norman D. Newell

• Groups abruptly appear and disappear -- Newell
• Ladder of evolution is not borne out by evidence -- Newell

John R. Norman

• No evidence for the origin of fish -- Norman

Robert Allan Obar

• The eukaryotic cell is a kind of wonderland fantasy biologists construct in their imaginations - Dyer and Obar

J.E. O'Rourke

• Use of rocks to date fossils and fossils to date rocks is circular reasoning - O'Rourke

H. Allen Orr

• Theoretical foundations and the experimental evidence for neo-Darwinism is weak - Orr and Coyne

Colin Patterson

• If I knew of any evolutionary transitions -- Patterson

C.R.C. Paul

• Well-documented lineages don't withstand scrutiny -- Paul
• Fossil record more complete than generally accepted -- Paul

Sir Karl Popper

• Darwinism is not testable; it is a metaphysical research programme -- Popper

R.H. Rastall

• From a strictly philosophical standpoint, geologists argue in a circle - Rastall

David M. Raup

• An uneven or jerky fossil record -- Raup
• Higher categories are a mystery and appear abruptly without transitional forms - Raup and Stanley

Boyce Rensberger

• The example of horse evolution has long been known to be wrong - Rensberger

Robert E. Ricklefs

• Punctuated equilibria rests on shaky ground -- Ricklefs

Mark Ridley

• No evolutionist uses the fossil record as evidence -- Ridley

Alfred Sherwood Romer

• There are no transitional fossils showing the origins of rodents - Romer

Harry Rubin

• Too complex to have occurred by chance -- Rubin

Jeffrey H. Schwartz

• Fossil record should be fife with transitional forms -- Schwartz

George Gaylord Simpson

• Every paleontologist knows taxa appear suddenly -- Simpson
• Links missing where we most want them -- Jepsen, Mayr, and Simpson

Sam Singer

• Little evidence for phyletic gradualism -- Gould, Luria, and Singer

Peter J. Smith

• Little evidence of modification within species -- Smith

Wolfgang Smith

• Pseudometaphysical hypothesis -- Smith

Barbra J. Stahl

• No known fish directly ancestral to land vertebrates -- Stahl
• How feathers arose initially from reptilian scales defies analysis -- Stahl

Steven M. Stanley

• Species overlap in time -- Stanley
• Higher categories are a mystery and appear abruptly without transitional forms - Raup and Stanley
• No examples of phyletic evolution found in fossil record - Stanley

Ian Tattersall

• Fossil record flatly fails to substantiate finely-graded change -- Eldredge and Tattersall
• Paleontologists knew it but preferred to ignore it -- Eldredge and Tattersall

S. C. Todd

• Even if all data point to an Intelligent Designer, science excludes hypothesis as not naturalistic - Todd

Harold C. Urey

• An article of faith -- Urey

James W. Valentine

• Transitionals between taxa are unknown; neither gradualism nor punctuated equilibrium explain changes in body plans - Valentine and Erwin
• No phylum level designs since Cambrian -- Valentine and Jablonski
• Difficult to establish phylogeny -- Ayala and Valentine

George Wald

• Spontaneous generation arising to evolution is scientifically impossible --Wald
• Spontaneous generation is impossible but believed -- Wald

D.M.S. Watson

• Evolution accepted because creation is incredible -- Watson

Robert Wesson

• The gaps are real -- Wesson

Errol White

• Lungfish have origins firmly based on nothing -- White

Adam S. Wilkins

• Most biologists can conduct their work without reference to evolutionary ideas - Wilkins

Peter G. Williamson

• Gaps are a persistent problem -- Williamson
• The principle problem is stasis -- Williamson

D.S. Woodroof

• Fossil species remain unchanged -- Woodroff

Sewall G. Wright

• Systematic effect of mutation is degeneration -- Wright