10 Quotes from the book “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari by Muinuddin Bashar

100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo sapiens.

How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations, and human rights; to trust money, books, and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables, and consumerism? And what will our world be like in the millennia to come?

In Sapiens, Dr. Yuval Noah Harari spans the whole of human history, from the very first humans to walk the earth to the radical – and sometimes devastating – breakthroughs of the Cognitive, Agricultural and Scientific Revolutions. Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, paleontology, and economics, he explores how the currents of history have shaped our human societies, the animals and plants around us, and even our personalities. Have we become happier as history has unfolded? Can we ever free our behavior from the heritage of our ancestors? And what, if anything, can we do to influence the course of the centuries to come?

Bold, wide-ranging, and provocative, Sapiens challenges everything we thought we knew about being human: our thoughts, our actions, our power ... and our future.

Photo courtesy: Internet

Here are 10 quotes from Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind that will tell you about humanity and history.

 

1. The root of suffering is neither the feeling of pain nor of sadness nor even of meaninglessness. Rather, the real root of suffering is this never-ending and pointless pursuit of ephemeral feelings, which causes us to be in a constant state of tension, restlessness, and dissatisfaction.

2. Humans are the outcome of blind evolutionary processes that operate without a goal or purpose.

3. If planet earth were to blow up tomorrow morning, the universe would probably keep going about its business as usual.

4. We study history not to know the future but to widen our horizons.

5. Our language evolved as a way of gossiping.

6. Sapiens instinctively divide humanity into two parts, ‘we’ and ‘they’.

7. There are no nations, no money, and no human rights, except in our collective imagination.

8. We are full of fears and anxieties over our position, which makes us doubly cruel and dangerous.

9. I can convince myself that my life is meaningful, and find happiness in that conviction.

10. Suffering arises from craving; the only way to be fully liberated from craving, and the only way to be liberated from craving is to train the mind to experience reality as it is.

MUINUDDIN BASHAR ARONNO was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Currently, he is pursuing his B.Eng. degree in Electronics and Engineering from Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China. He loves working at the intersection of technology, business, and education. 

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