Desmond Morris Quotes

United Kingdom, Zoologist
January 24, 1928

Desmond John Morris (born 24 January 1928) is an English zoologist, ethologist and surrealist painter, as well as a popular author in human sociobiology. He is known for his 1967 book The Naked Ape, and for his television programmes such as Zoo Time.

Also known as Painter

I viewed my fellow man not as a fallen angel, but as a risen ape.

Desmond Morris
- Angel
The city is not a concrete jungle, it is a human zoo.

Desmond Morris
- City

The idea that it is funny to see wild animals coerced into acting like clumsy humans, or thrilling to see powerful beasts reduced to cringing cowards by a whip-cracking trainer, is primitive and medieval. It stems from the old idea that we are superior to other species and have the right to hold dominion over them.

Desmond Morris
- Funny
- Powerful
A belief in the validity of the acquisition of knowledge and a scientific understanding of the world we live in, the creation and appreciation of aesthetic phenomena in all their many forms, and the broadening and deepening of our range of experiences in day-to-day living, is rapidly becoming the ‘religion’ of our time.

Desmond Morris
- Time
- World
- Live
No matter how old we become, we can still call them 'Holy Mother' and 'Father' and put a child-like trust in them.

Desmond Morris
- Mother
- Father
- Trust
This unusual and highly successful species spends a great deal of time examining his higher motives and an equal amount of time ignoring his fundamental ones.

Desmond Morris
- Time
- Great
Life is like a very short visit to a toyshop between birth and death.

Desmond Morris
- Life
- Death
Biologically speaking, if something bites you it's more likely to be female.

Desmond Morris

Clearly, then, the city is not a concrete jungle, it is a human zoo.

Desmond Morris
- City
Artists like cats; soldiers like dogs.

Desmond Morris