Create Yours

Top 30 Richard W. Wrangham Quotes (2025 Update)

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “The problem in both human and ape history is that political power is built on physical power – and physical power is ultimately the power of violence or its threat.”

1. “The problem in both human and ape history is that political power is built on physical power – and physical power is ultimately the power of violence or its threat.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “The weight of our guts is estimated at about 60 percent of what is expected for a primate of our size: the human digestive system as a whole is much smaller than would be predicted on the basis of size relations in primates. Our small mouths, teeth, and guts fit well with the softness, high caloric density, low fiber content, and high digestibility of cooked food.”

2. “The weight of our guts is estimated at about 60 percent of what is expected for a primate of our size: the human digestive system as a whole is much smaller than would be predicted on the basis of size relations in primates. Our small mouths, teeth, and guts fit well with the softness, high caloric density, low fiber content, and high digestibility of cooked food.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “Food historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto proposed that cooking created mealtimes and thereby organized people into a community. For culinary historian Michael Symons, cooking promoted cooperation through sharing, because the cook always distributes food. Cooking, he wrote, is “the starting-place of trades.”

3. “Food historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto proposed that cooking created mealtimes and thereby organized people into a community. For culinary historian Michael Symons, cooking promoted cooperation through sharing, because the cook always distributes food. Cooking, he wrote, is “the starting-place of trades.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “I believe the transformative moment that gave rise to the genus Homo, one of the great transitions in the history of life, stemmed from the control of fire and the advent of cooked meals.”

4. “I believe the transformative moment that gave rise to the genus Homo, one of the great transitions in the history of life, stemmed from the control of fire and the advent of cooked meals.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “Another version of the same formula applied to many Tiwi marriages. In this highly polygynous culture, old men took most of the young wives, so more than 90 percent of men’s first marriages were to widows much older than themselves, sometimes as old as sixty. The old wives might have been past child-bearing age and physically unattractive, but young men delighted in the marriages because they were then fed.”

5. “Another version of the same formula applied to many Tiwi marriages. In this highly polygynous culture, old men took most of the young wives, so more than 90 percent of men’s first marriages were to widows much older than themselves, sometimes as old as sixty. The old wives might have been past child-bearing age and physically unattractive, but young men delighted in the marriages because they were then fed.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “Hundreds of different hunter-gatherer cultures have been described, and all obtained a substantial proportion of their diet from meat, often half their calories or more.”

6. “Hundreds of different hunter-gatherer cultures have been described, and all obtained a substantial proportion of their diet from meat, often half their calories or more.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “However, among people who eat cooked diets, there is no difference in body weight between vegetarians and meat eaters: when our food is cooked we get as many calories from a vegetarian diet as from a typical American meat-rich diet. It is only when eating raw that we suffer poor weight gain.”

7. “However, among people who eat cooked diets, there is no difference in body weight between vegetarians and meat eaters: when our food is cooked we get as many calories from a vegetarian diet as from a typical American meat-rich diet. It is only when eating raw that we suffer poor weight gain.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “Are we just an ordinary animal that happens to enjoy the tastes and securities of cooked food without in any way depending on them? Or are we a new kind of species tied to the use of fire by our biological needs, relying on cooked food to supply enough energy to our bodies?”

8. “Are we just an ordinary animal that happens to enjoy the tastes and securities of cooked food without in any way depending on them? Or are we a new kind of species tied to the use of fire by our biological needs, relying on cooked food to supply enough energy to our bodies?”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “In addition to having a small gape, our mouths have a relatively small volume – about the same size as chimpanzee mouths, even though we weigh some 50 percent more than they do. Zoologists often try to capture the essence of our species with such phrases as the naked, bipedal, or big-brained ape. They could equally well call us the small-mouthed ape.”

9. “In addition to having a small gape, our mouths have a relatively small volume – about the same size as chimpanzee mouths, even though we weigh some 50 percent more than they do. Zoologists often try to capture the essence of our species with such phrases as the naked, bipedal, or big-brained ape. They could equally well call us the small-mouthed ape.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “A wife who cooks badly might be beaten, shouted at, chased, or have her possessions broken, but she can respond to abuse by refusing to cook or threatening to leave. Such disputes seem to be characteristic mostly of new marriages.”

10. “A wife who cooks badly might be beaten, shouted at, chased, or have her possessions broken, but she can respond to abuse by refusing to cook or threatening to leave. Such disputes seem to be characteristic mostly of new marriages.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “Brillat-Savarin and Symons were right to say that we have tamed nature with fire. We should indeed pin our humanity on cooks.”

11. “Brillat-Savarin and Symons were right to say that we have tamed nature with fire. We should indeed pin our humanity on cooks.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “Women in these societies often dislike marriage specifically because as wives they are obliged to produce food for men, and they have to work harder than they would as unmarried women.”

12. “Women in these societies often dislike marriage specifically because as wives they are obliged to produce food for men, and they have to work harder than they would as unmarried women.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “Men need their personal cooks because the guarantee of an evening meal frees them to spend the day doing what they want, and allows them to entertain other men. They can find opportunities for sexual interactions more easily than they can find a food provider.”

13. “Men need their personal cooks because the guarantee of an evening meal frees them to spend the day doing what they want, and allows them to entertain other men. They can find opportunities for sexual interactions more easily than they can find a food provider.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “So the question of our origins concerns the forces that sprung Homo erectus from their australopithecine past. Anthropologists have an answer. According to the most popular view since the 1950s there was a single supposed impetus: the eating of meat.”

14. “So the question of our origins concerns the forces that sprung Homo erectus from their australopithecine past. Anthropologists have an answer. According to the most popular view since the 1950s there was a single supposed impetus: the eating of meat.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “We are not merely the most intelligent of animals. We also have a rare and perplexing combination of moral tendencies. We can be the nastiest of species and also the nicest.”

15. “We are not merely the most intelligent of animals. We also have a rare and perplexing combination of moral tendencies. We can be the nastiest of species and also the nicest.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “High-testosterone men are not particularly aggressive unless challenged, but when confronted they are likely than low-testosterone men to respond with aggression.”

16. “High-testosterone men are not particularly aggressive unless challenged, but when confronted they are likely than low-testosterone men to respond with aggression.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “An animal slaughtered without being stressed retains more glycogen in its muscles. After death the glycogen converts to lactic acid, which promotes denaturation and therefore a more tender meat.”

17. “An animal slaughtered without being stressed retains more glycogen in its muscles. After death the glycogen converts to lactic acid, which promotes denaturation and therefore a more tender meat.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “The moral sense was once explained purely by religion. Now an evolutionary account is needed.”

18. “The moral sense was once explained purely by religion. Now an evolutionary account is needed.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “Without the learned skills passed down to us by previous generations, we are in trouble. With them, we dominate the planet.”

19. “Without the learned skills passed down to us by previous generations, we are in trouble. With them, we dominate the planet.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “Every society has to find its own protection. To avert episodes of violence we should constantly remind ourselves of how easily a complex social organization can decay, and how hard it is to construct.”

20. “Every society has to find its own protection. To avert episodes of violence we should constantly remind ourselves of how easily a complex social organization can decay, and how hard it is to construct.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “Human competitiveness still has elements of the primate system of achieving status by individual combat.”

21. “Human competitiveness still has elements of the primate system of achieving status by individual combat.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “However, being moral can include not only acts of kindness but also deeds of conformity and violence.”

22. “However, being moral can include not only acts of kindness but also deeds of conformity and violence.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “Many tendencies that we regard as morally reprehensible clearly evolved, including numerous kinds of sexual coercion, lethal violence, and social domination. Equally, many morally delightful tendencies did not evolve, such as charity to strangers and kindness to animals.”

23. “Many tendencies that we regard as morally reprehensible clearly evolved, including numerous kinds of sexual coercion, lethal violence, and social domination. Equally, many morally delightful tendencies did not evolve, such as charity to strangers and kindness to animals.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “Before we can talk or walk, we are programmed to recognize norm violators – those whose antisocial behavior classifies them as “bad”.”

24. “Before we can talk or walk, we are programmed to recognize norm violators – those whose antisocial behavior classifies them as “bad”.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “The evidence that Homo sapiens have been self-domesticating for three hundred thousand years, and how it happened, suggests that we are a thoroughly unusual primate.”

25. “The evidence that Homo sapiens have been self-domesticating for three hundred thousand years, and how it happened, suggests that we are a thoroughly unusual primate.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “The moral contradictions of our ancestry should not prevent us from reaching a realistic assessment of who we are. Whehn we do that, high hopes are still possible.”

26. “The moral contradictions of our ancestry should not prevent us from reaching a realistic assessment of who we are. Whehn we do that, high hopes are still possible.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “In 1995 Leslie Aiello and Peter Wheeler proposed that the reason some animals have evolved big brains is that they have small guts, and small guts are made possible by a high-quality diet. Aiello and Wheeler’s head-spinning idea came from the realization that brains are exceptionally greedy for glucose – in other words, for energy. For an inactive person, every fifth meal is eaten solely to power the brain.”

27. “In 1995 Leslie Aiello and Peter Wheeler proposed that the reason some animals have evolved big brains is that they have small guts, and small guts are made possible by a high-quality diet. Aiello and Wheeler’s head-spinning idea came from the realization that brains are exceptionally greedy for glucose – in other words, for energy. For an inactive person, every fifth meal is eaten solely to power the brain.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “The important human quest should not be to promote cooperation. That goal is relatively simple and firmly founded on our self-domestication and moral senses. The harder challenge is reducing our capacity for organized violence.”

28. “The important human quest should not be to promote cooperation. That goal is relatively simple and firmly founded on our self-domestication and moral senses. The harder challenge is reducing our capacity for organized violence.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “People often expect religious believers to act in especially prosocial ways, which they often do, but religiosity is not always a predictor or moral kindness.”

29. “People often expect religious believers to act in especially prosocial ways, which they often do, but religiosity is not always a predictor or moral kindness.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “Coalitionary proactive aggression in humans, therefore, is most simply understood as an elaboration of ancient tendencies.”

30. “Coalitionary proactive aggression in humans, therefore, is most simply understood as an elaboration of ancient tendencies.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “We get into fights or lust for imperial dominion over another nation for reasons of pride.”

31. “We get into fights or lust for imperial dominion over another nation for reasons of pride.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “History is far more important than evolutionary theorizing as a reminder about human potential, because the historical evidence of change is so much more vivid.”

32. “History is far more important than evolutionary theorizing as a reminder about human potential, because the historical evidence of change is so much more vivid.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Richard W. Wrangham Quote: “We know that over time society sometimes improves in quality, and sometimes decays. What we cannot know is which direction our descendants will take.”

33. “We know that over time society sometimes improves in quality, and sometimes decays. What we cannot know is which direction our descendants will take.”

— Richard W. Wrangham

Motivational Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

Positive Quotes

Positive Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Motivational Quotes

INSPIRATIONAL SUCCESS MOTIVATIONAL

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS INSPIRATIONAL

Positive Quotes

Positive Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS INSPIRATIONAL

Steve Jobs Quotes

Steve Jobs Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS APPLE

Inspirational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

COURAGE MOTIVATIONAL STRENGTH

INSPIRATIONAL SUCCESS MOTIVATIONAL

Swami Vivekananda Quotes

Swami Vivekananda Quotes

LIFE SPIRITUALITY

Save image...
Permalink
Open in new tab
Copy quote text

Beautiful Wallpapers and Images

We hope you enjoyed our collection of 30 Richard W. Wrangham Quotes.

All the images on this page were created with QuoteFancy Studio.

Use QuoteFancy Studio to create high-quality images for your desktop backgrounds, blog posts, presentations, social media, videos, posters, and more.

Thank you!

Please check your email.