About Yuval Noah Harari
Yuval Noah Harari, born on February 24, 1976, in Kiryat Ata, Israel, is a renowned historian, philosopher, and author. He is best known for his groundbreaking works that explore the past, present, and future of humankind, including the international bestsellers "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind", "Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow", and "21 Lessons for the 21st Century". Harari’s ability to synthesize complex ideas into accessible narratives has made him a global intellectual figure, influencing discussions on technology, society, and ethics.
572 Powerful Yuval Noah Harari Quotes to Inspire You
Here are 572 Powerful quotes by Yuval Noah Harari on various topics to inspire you.
2. “Domesticated chickens and cattle may well be an evolutionary success story, but they are also among the most miserable creatures that ever lived. The domestication of animals was founded on a series of brutal practices that only became crueler with the passing of the centuries.”
Yuval Noah Harari
Domestication, Animals, Suffering, Evolutionary Success, Ethical Concerns
10. “Just as divine authority was legitimized by religious mythologies, and human authority was justified by the liberal story, so the coming technological revolution might establish the authority of Big Data algorithms, while undermining the very idea of individual freedom.”
Yuval Noah Harari Authority, Technology, Big Data, Freedom, Societal Impact
12. “Alamogordo, 16 July 1945, 05:29:53. Eight seconds after the first atomic bomb was detonated. The nuclear physicist Robert Oppenheimer, upon seeing the explosion, quoted from the Bhagavad Gita: ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’”
Yuval Noah Harari Alamogordo, Atomic Bomb, Oppenheimer, Historical Moment, Nuclear Physics
14. “Turing knew from personal experience that it didn’t matter who you really were – it mattered only what others thought about you. According to Turing, in the future computers would be just like gay men in the 1950s. It won’t matter whether computers will actually be conscious or not. It will matter only what people think about it.”
Yuval Noah Harari Turing, Identity, Perception, Societal Norms, Technology
16. “Unfortunately, teaching kids to embrace the unknown while maintaining their mental balance is far more difficult than teaching them an equation in physics or the causes of the First World War. You cannot learn resilience by reading a book or listening to a lecture. Teachers themselves usually lack the mental flexibility that the twenty-first century demands, since they themselves are the product of the old educational system.”
Yuval Noah Harari Education, Resilience, Teaching, Mental Flexibility, Modern Challenges
18. “Meaning and authority always go hand in hand. Whoever determines the meaning of our actions – whether they are good or evil, right or wrong, beautiful or ugly – also gains the authority to tell us what to think and how to behave.”
Yuval Noah Harari Meaning, Authority, Morality, Societal Influence, Power Structures
19. “Sapiens by contrast is more like a banana republic dictator. Having so recently been one of the underdogs of the savannah, we are full of fears and anxieties over our position, which makes us doubly cruel and dangerous. Many historical calamities, from deadly wars to ecological catastrophes, have resulted from this over-hasty jump.”
Yuval Noah Harari Sapiens, Power Dynamics, Cruelty, History, Fears
20. “Unlike the laws of physics, which are free of inconsistencies, every man-made order is packed with internal contradictions. Cultures are constantly trying to reconcile these contradictions, and this process fuels change.”
Yuval Noah Harari Man-made Orders, Culture, Contradictions, Change, Social Dynamics
21. “For more than 2 million years, human neural networks kept growing and growing, but apart from some flint knives and pointed sticks, humans had precious little to show for it. What then drove forward the evolution of the massive human brain during those 2 million years? Frankly, we don’t know.”
Yuval Noah Harari Evolution, Human Brain, Development, History, Unanswered Questions
24. “True, hundreds of millions may nevertheless go on believing in Islam, Christianity or Hinduism. But numbers alone don’t count for much in history. History is often shaped by small groups of forward-looking innovators rather than by the backward-looking masses. Ten thousand years ago most people were hunter-gatherers and only a few pioneers in the Middle East were farmers.”
Yuval Noah Harari Belief Systems, History, Innovation, Societal Change, Anthropology
27. “That’s why the theory of evolution cannot accept the idea of souls, at least if by ‘soul’ we mean something indivisible, immutable and potentially eternal. Such an entity cannot possibly result from a step-by-step evolution.”
Yuval Noah Harari Evolution, Souls, Philosophy, Biological Perspective, Understanding
