“The view of evolution as chronic bloody competition among individuals and species, a popular distortion of Darwin’s notion of ‘survival of the fittest,’ dissolves before a new view of continual cooperation.”

“All of us are walking communities of bacteria. The world shimmers, a pointillist landscape made of …”

— Lynn Margulis, Microcosmos (1987)

“Independence is a political, not a scientific term.”

— Lynn Margulis, What Is Life? (1995)

“Life on Earth is an elaborate and intricate symbiotic phenomenon.”

— Lynn Margulis, Symbiosis in Cell Evolution (1981)

“I think the concept of symbiosis, of living together in physical contact, is a very important …”

— Lynn Margulis, Symbiotic Planet: A New Look at Evolution (1998)

“The romantic vision of biotic nature as a cooperative venture is far more scientifically accurate …”

— Lynn Margulis, Acquiring Genomes: A Theory of the Origins of Species (2002)

“We abide in a symbiotic world.”

— Lynn Margulis, Symbiotic Planet: A New Look at Evolution (1998)