Terry Pratchett Quotes

I am often surprised by the cleverness, and now and again by the stupidity, of my dog; and I have similar experiences with mankind.

Man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile.

Humans like to think of themselves as unusual. We've got big brains that make it possible for us to think, and we think that we have free will and that our behavior can't be described by some mechanistic set of theorems or ideas. But even in terms of much of our behavior, we really aren't very different from other animals.

Man is the most intelligent of the animals - and the most silly.

If a cat does something, we call it instinct; if we do the same thing, for the same reason, we call it intelligence.

If an animal does something, we call it instinct; if we do the same thing for the same reason, we call it intelligence.

Of all the animals which fly in the air, walk on the land, or swim in the sea, from Paris to Peru, from Japan to Rome, the most foolish animal in my opinion is man.

If animals had reason, they would act just as ridiculous as we menfolks do.

What is denominated discretion in man we call cunning in brutes.

I find it valid to understand man as an animal before I am prepared to know him as a man.

Chimps are far too much human to be my favorite animal.

People--stupid when they lived; potentially stupid when they died.

Future benefits rarely figure in the minds of animals.

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.

Human folk are as a matter of fact eager to find intelligence in animals.

When we see animals doing remarkable things, how do we know if we're simply seeing tricks or signs of real intelligence? Are talented animals just obeying commands, or do they have some kind of deeper understanding? One of the biggest challenges for animal researchers is to come up with tests that can distinguish between the two.

With land-roaming animals, I've just read so much about the sophistication of their emotional lives and their intelligence and the way they process information that betrays a greater intelligence.

Pigs are smarter than dogs, and both are smarter than Congress.

I do not want to go into its physical reasons: the construction of the human body is different from that of carnivorous animals. But man's intelligence is such that it can be utilised to defend any-thing he does, whether right or wrong.

To err is human also in so far as animals seldom or never err, or at least only the cleverest of them do so.

Human beings are the only animals of which I am thoroughly and cravenly afraid.

From the lowest animals of which we can affirm intelligence up to man this type of intellect is found.

Few of the many wise apothegms which have been uttered have prevented a single foolish action.

There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher animals in their mental faculties.

One of the things we found out as we filmed with people who dealt with chimps, and with all animals, and it's really incredible, is their levels of intelligence that we don't recognize right away.