Michael Behe quotes

The strong appearance of design [in nature] allows a disarmingly simple argument: if it looks, walks and quacks like a duck, then, absent compelling evidence to the contrary, we have warrant to conclude it's a duck. Design should not be overlooked simply because it's so obvious. (Michael Behe)
As can be seen even by this limited number of examples proteins carry out amazingly diverse functions. View quote
Michael Behe
Proteins are the machinery of living tissue that builds the structures and carries out the chemical reactions necessary for life. View quote
Michael Behe
It is often said that science must avoid any conclusions which smack of the supernatural. View quote
Michael Behe
Thus it seemed to Haeckel that such simple life could easily be produced from inanimate material. View quote
Michael Behe
In Darwin's time all of biology was a black box: not only the cell, or the eye, or digestion, or immunity, but every biological structure and function because, ultimately, no one could explain how biological processes occurred. View quote
Michael Behe
Molecular evolution is not based on scientific authority.. . . There are assertions that such evolution occurred, but absolutely none are supported by pertinent experiments or calculations. Since no one knows molecular evolution by direct experience, and since there is no authority on which to base claims of knowledge, it can truly be said that. . . the assertion of Darwinian molecular evolution is merely bluster. View quote
Michael Behe
In private many scientists admit that science has no explanation for the beginning of life.. . . Darwin never imagined the exquisitely profound complexity that exists even at the most basic levels of life. View quote
Michael Behe
Many people, including many important and well-respected scientists, just don't want there to be anything beyond nature. They don't want a supernatural being to affect nature. View quote
Michael Behe
Under my definition, a scientific theory is a proposed explanation which focuses or points to physical, observable data and logical inferences. There are many things throughout the history of science which we now think to be incorrect which nonetheless would fit that - which would fit that definition. Yes, astrology is in fact one. View quote
Michael Behe
As the number of unexplained, irreducibly complex biological systems increases, our confidence that Darwin's criterion of failure has been met skyrockets toward the maximum that science allows. (Michael Behe)
The result of [the] cumulative efforts to investigate the cell-to investigate life at the molecular level-is a loud, clear, piercing cry of ‘design!' The result is so unambiguous and so significant that it must be ranked as one of the greatest achievements in the history of science. The discovery rivals those of Newton and Einstein, Lavoisier and Schrödinger, Pasteur, and Darwin. The observation of the intelligent design of life is as momentous as the observation that the earth goes around the sun. View quote
Michael Behe
If you search the scientific literature on evolution, and if you focus your search on the question of how molecular machines-the basis of life-developed, you find an eerie and complete silence. The complexity of life's foundation has paralyzed science's attempt to account for it; molecular machines raise an as-yet-impenetrable barrier to Darwinism's universal reach. View quote
Michael Behe
Skin is made in large measure of a protein called collagen. View quote
Michael Behe
Biology has progressed tremendously due to the model that Darwin put forth. But the black boxes Darwin accepted are now being opened, and our view of the world is again being shaken. View quote
Michael Behe
Throughout history there have been many other examples, similar to that of Haeckel, Huxley and the cell, where a key piece of a particular scientific puzzle was beyond the understanding of the age. View quote
Michael Behe
A man from a primitive culture who sees an automobile might guess that it was powered by the wind or by an antelope hidden under the car, but when he opens up the hood and sees the engine he immediately realizes that it was designed. View quote
Michael Behe
It was a shock to people of the nineteenth century when they discovered, from observations science had made, that many features of the biological world could be ascribed to the elegant principle of natural selection. View quote
Michael Behe
Since natural selection requires a function to select, an irreducibly complex biological system, if there is such a thing, would have to arise as an integrated unit for natural selection to have anything to act on. View quote
Michael Behe
In order to say that some function is understood, every relevant step in the process must be elucidated. View quote
Michael Behe
In many biological structures proteins are simply components of larger molecular machines. (Michael Behe)
The theory of undirected evolution is already dead, but the work of science continues. View quote
Michael Behe
The basic structure of proteins is quite simple: they are formed by hooking together in a chain discrete subunits called amino acids. View quote
Michael Behe
We are not inferring design to account for a black box, but to account for an open box. View quote
Michael Behe
Although Darwin was able to persuade much of the world that a modern eye could be produced gradually from a much simpler structure, he did not even attempt to explain how the simple light sensitive spot that was his starting point actually worked. View quote
Michael Behe