Anything found to be true of E. coli must also be true of elephants. - Jacques Monod

If [the emergence of the human species] was unique, as may perhaps have been the appearance of life itself, then before it did appear its chances of doing so were infinitely slender. The universe was not pregnant with life nor the biosphere with man. Our number came up in the Monte Carlo game.

The first scientific postulate is the objectivity of nature: nature does not have any intention or goal.

There is in science, however, quite a gap between belief and certainty. But would one ever have the patience to wait and to establish the certainty if the inner conviction were not already there?