If Human Nature Eventually Is Going To

Animals Are Stylized Characters In A Kind Of Old Saga - Stylized Because Even The Most Acute Of Them Have Little Leeway As They Play Out Their Parts.

We New Yorkers See More Death And Violence Than Most Soldiers Do, Grow A Thick Chitin On Our Backs, Grimace Like A Rat And Learn To Do A Disappearing Act. Long Ago We Outgrew The Need To Be Blowhards About Our Masculinity; We Leave That To The Alaskans And Texans, Who Have More Time For It.

There Often Seems To Be A Playfulness To Wise People, As If Either Their Equanimity Has As Its Source This Playfulness Or The Playfulness Flows From Equanimity; And They Can Persuade Other People Who Are In A State Of Agitation To Calm Down And Smile.

Man Is Different From Animals In That He Speculates, A High-risk Activity.

If Human Nature Eventually Is Going To Take The Place Of Nature Everywhere, Those Of Us Who Have Been Naturalists Will Have To Transpose The Faith In Nature Which Is Inherent In The Profession To A Faith In Man-if Necessary, Man Alone In The World.