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The Quote Mine Project

Or, Lies, Damned Lies and Quote Mines

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Copyright © 2003-2006
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Introduction
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The Quotes

Original Quote Mine Project

  1. Difficult to establish phylogeny -- Ayala and Valentine
  2. Fossil record has disappointingly few gradual series -- Futuyma
  3. Sudden diversification of multi-cellular life -- Eldredge
  4. Little evidence for phyletic gradualism -- Gould, Luria, and Singer
  5. Difficult to find fossils intermediate in morphology and stratigraphic position -- Cracraft
  6. Taxa appear suddenly -- Eldredge
  7. Species overlap in time -- Stanley
  8. Fossils cloud attempts at phylogeny -- Fortey
  9. No empirical evidence for sustained trends -- Gould and Eldredge
  10. No phylum level designs since Cambrian -- Valentine and Jablonski
  11. Trends are after the fact render of evolutionary history -- Eldredge
  12. Punctuated equilibria rests on shaky ground -- Ricklefs
  13. Fossils do not prove that evolution occurs -- Kitts
  14. Paleontologists paid enormous price for Darwin's argument -- Gould
  15. Paleontologists cheat in reconstructing animals -- Bengtsons
  16. Multicellular animals appear with a bang -- Gould
  17. Fossils caused Darwin more grief than joy -- Gould
  18. Major groups appear suddenly -- Futuyma
  19. Taxa appear suddenly and without intermediates -- Eldredge
  20. Every paleontologist knows taxa appear suddenly -- Simpson
  21. The gaps are real -- Wesson
  22. Groups abruptly appear and disappear -- Newell
  23. Contradiction of Darwin's gradualism and paleontology -- Mayr
  24. Fossils do not reveal gradual transformations -- Bowler
  25. An uneven or jerky fossil record -- Raup
  26. The major problem in proving evolution is the fossil record -- Czarnecki
  27. Little evidence of modification within species -- Smith
  28. The principle problem is stasis -- Williamson
  29. Members of a biota remain stable -- Eldredge
  30. Fossil species remain unchanged -- Woodroff
  31. Paleontologists have long known about stasis and abrupt appearance -- Gould
  32. Paleontologists have been searching in vain -- Eldredge
  33. Evolutionary interpretation is a circular argument -- Kemp
  34. Ladder of evolution is not borne out by evidence -- Newell
  35. Nothing much happens to most species -- Gould
  36. Non-change was tacitly acknowledged -- Gould
  37. Paleontologists knew it but preferred to ignore it -- Eldredge and Tattersall
  38. We have many gaps in key areas -- McGowan
  39. Absence of gradual intermediate transitional forms -- Eldredge
  40. Punctuationists and gradualists both agree the gaps are real -- Dawkins
  41. Fossil record has precious little intermediate forms -- Gould
  42. Transitional forms are inordinately scarce -- Brouwer
  43. No need to apologize for the fossil record -- Neville
  44. Fossil record flatly fails to substantiate finely-graded change -- Eldredge and Tattersall
  45. Gaps can not be easily explained by poor fossil record -- Eldredge
  46. Fossil record more complete than generally accepted -- Paul
  47. Links missing where we most want them -- Jepsen, Mayr, and Simpson
  48. Deep dark secrets of paleontology -- Cracraft
  49. No evolutionist uses the fossil record as evidence -- Ridley
  50. Inability to construct functional intermediates -- Gould
  51. Constancy about the fossil gaps -- Hitching
  52. No evidence for transitional creatures -- The Guardian Weekly
  53. Fossil record should be fife with transitional forms -- Schwartz
  54. Evolution requires intermediate forms and paleontology does not provide -- Kitts
  55. Gaps are a persistent problem -- Williamson
  56. If I knew of any evolutionary transitions -- Patterson
  57. Spontaneous generation arising to evolution is scientifically impossible --Wald
  58. An article of faith -- Urey
  59. The only acceptable explanation is creation -- Lipson
  60. Plant fossils favor creation -- Corner
  61. Based on faith alone -- More
  62. Nothing contrary to conservative creationists -- Ambrose
  63. No recognizable way for conscience life to have emerged -- Eccles
  64. Pseudometaphysical hypothesis -- Smith
  65. Origin of life is still a mystery -- d'Aubigne
  66. Too complex to have occurred by chance -- Rubin
  67. Evolution has grave defects -- Fleischmann
  68. Macroevolution fails at every level -- Haines
  69. No definitive evidence that viruses, bacteria, or protozoa are inter-related -- Kerkut
  70. No proof life was not created -- Jostrow
  71. Paleontologists say fossils support gradualism knowing that it does not -- Eldredge
  72. Well-documented lineages don't withstand scrutiny -- Paul
  73. Abominable mystery -- Darwin
  74. Origin of life appears to be almost a miracle -- Crick
  75. The most obvious and serious objection against the theory -- Darwin
  76. Devoted myself to a fantasy -- Darwin
  77. No evidence for the origin of fish -- Norman
  78. No known fish directly ancestral to land vertebrates -- Stahl
  79. No scientists can prove evolution -- Millikan
  80. Evolution accepted because creation is incredible -- Watson
  81. Unproved and unprovable -- Keith
  82. We cannot prove a single species has changed -- Darwin
  83. Rightfully reject my whole theory -- Darwin
  84. My theory would absolutely break down -- Darwin
  85. That fact would be fatal to the theory of descent -- Darwin
  86. Lungfish have origins firmly based on nothing -- White

Second Quote Mine Project: Darwin Quotes

  1. Darwin conscious that his work was speculation beyond bounds of true science -- Darwin
  2. Darwin admits his book is too hypothetical and authors persuade themselves of own dogma -- Darwin
  3. Darwin admits facts can be shown against all points he made in Origin of Species -- Darwin
  4. Darwin admits that the fossil record presents valid arguments against his theory -- Darwin
  5. Darwin staggered by the grave difficulties in his theory -- Darwin
  6. Darwin admits that innumerable transitional fossils called for by his theory are not found -- Darwin
  7. Darwin admits that he cannot prove any species has changed due to Natural Selection -- Darwin
  8. Evolution of the eye is absurd -- Darwin
  9. Follow those impulses and instincts which are the strongest or which seem best -- Darwin
  10. Civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races - Darwin
  11. Civilized Caucasian races will eliminate the lower races - Darwin

Third Quote Mine Project: Gould, Eldredge and Punctuated Equilibria Quotes

  1. The notion of species as 'natural kinds' fits splendidly with creationist tenets - Gould
  2. The extreme rarity of transitional forms persist as the trade secret of paleontology - Gould
  3. Smooth intermediates are impossible to construct; mosaics like Archaeopteryx do not count - Gould and Eldredge
  4. The example of horse evolution has long been known to be wrong - Rensberger
  5. Evidence from fossils now points overwhelmingly away from the classical Darwinism - Adler
  6. We date rocks by their fossils and can't then talk about evolutionary patterns in the record - Eldredge
  7. Three coexisting lineages of hominids refute evolutionary ladder - Gould
  8. We cannot trace any fossil ape to any living species; just when our lineage began is where no fossil evidence exists - Gould
  9. Hominid fossils are mere fragments and scraps and only a basis for speculation and storytelling - Gould
  10. An error in a program generating evolutionary trees debunked an African source for humans - Gould
  11. No examples of phyletic evolution found in fossil record - Stanley
  12. Failure to find a clear 'vector of progress' in life's history is most puzzling fact of fossil record - Gould
  13. Evolution never seems to happen - Eldredge
  14. The fossil record with its abrupt transitions offers no support for gradual change - Gould
  15. I can envision observations and experiments that would disprove any evolutionary theory - Gould

Fourth Quote Mine Project: Assorted Quotes

  1. There are no transitional fossils showing the origin of insects - Carpenter
  2. How feathers arose initially from reptilian scales defies analysis - Stahl
  3. Higher categories are a mystery and appear abruptly without transitional forms - Raup and Stanley
  4. Transitionals between taxa are unknown; neither gradualism nor punctuated equilibrium explain changes in body plans - Valentine and Erwin
  5. There are no transitional fossils showing the origins of rodents - Romer
  6. The Darwinian Fallacy is an emperor without clothes - Hsü
  7. Evolution is an unproven theory and therefore exactly parallel to special creation - Matthews
  8. Most biologists can conduct their work without reference to evolutionary ideas - Wilkins
  9. Even if all data point to an Intelligent Designer, science excludes hypothesis as not naturalistic - Todd
  10. Theoretical foundations and the experimental evidence for neo-Darwinism is weak - Orr and Coyne
  11. The last 20 years of research has led us to a great Darwinian paradox - McDonald
  12. The eukaryotic cell is a kind of wonderland fantasy biologists construct in their imaginations - Dyer and Obar
  13. The law of Christ is incompatible with the law of evolution -- Keith
  14. New fossils forced into prexisting stories -- Gee
  15. Systematic effect of mutation is degeneration -- Wright
  16. The very idea of the missing link, always shaky, is now completely untenable -- Gee
  17. Darwinism is not testable; it is a metaphysical research programme -- Popper
  18. DNA is like a program -- Gates
  19. Spontaneous generation is impossible but believed -- Wald
  20. Evolution cannot be refuted by any possible observations - Ehrlich and Birch
  21. Too few fossils to support human evolution -- J. S. Jones

Fifth Quote Mine Project: Geologic Column Quotes

  1. Use of rocks to date fossils and fossils to date rocks is circular reasoning - O'Rourke
  2. Fossils are the best and most accurate method of dating rocks - Ager
  3. Isn't it circular that evolution is documented by geology and geology is documented by evolution - Azar
  4. From a strictly philosophical standpoint, geologists argue in a circle - Rastall
  5. Danger of circularity is still present - Kitts

Incidentals: Project articles on Quote Mining

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Introduction
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The Quotes

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