"[A]lthough species may be discrete, they have no immutable essence. Variation is the raw material of evolutionary change. It represents the fundamental reality of nature, not an accident about a created norm. Variation is primary; essences are illusory. Species must be defined as ranges of irreducible variation."
Stephen Jay Gould

January 1, 1970

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Original Language: English

Sources

"Of Wasps and WASPs", p. 160

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould