"The most solid piece of scientific truth I know of is that we are profoundly ignorant about nature." ― Lewis Thomas Topic(s): Funny More From Lewis Thomas "A lot of people fear death because they think that so overwhelming an experience has to be painful, but I’ve seen quite a few deaths, and, with one exception, I’ve never known anyone to undergo anything like agony. That’s amazing when you think about it. I mean, how complicated the mechanism is that’s being taken apart." "The central task of science is to arrive, stage by stage, at a clearer comprehension of nature, but this does not at all mean, as it is sometimes claimed to mean, a search for mastery over nature." "I won’t compare ants and people, but ants give us a useful model of how single members of a community can become so organized that they end up resembling, in effect, one big collective brain. Our own exploding population and communication technology are leading us that way." More In Funny "If you use tact you can say anything, then make it funny."― Dane Cook "I actually went to see ‘Rushmore,’ and I came late, and I missed myself. It was great, that scene. I caught that scene the other day on TV, funny enough, the first scene that you see with Jason Schwartzman and myself, where we talk about his grades. That’s a brilliant scene, and I have to say, we play it brilliantly."― Brian Cox "Peace with Israel is a strategic imperative for Jordan."― King Abdullah II