# Quote — Charles Sheffield, Proteus in the Underworld

> “Lop the top-end tail off the distribution of human intelligence and creativity,” he went on, “and it would make no measurable difference to the population. Only one person in a billion is out beyond the six-sigma level. That’s what we’re talking about here. But eventually those one-in-a-billion make a huge difference. Ninety-five percent of all human progress comes from less than one thousandth of one percent of the population.”

- Author: [Charles Sheffield](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield.md)
- Book: [Proteus in the Underworld](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/proteus-in-the-underworld.md)
- Page: 285
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Sheffield#Proteus_In_The_Underworld_(1995)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/proteus-in-the-underworld/lop-the-top-end

## More from this book

> Not it. He. Bey was sure he would have determined that for himself after a few more seconds. There were a hundred clues as to the innate sex of a form, and most of them had nothing to do with appearance or dress.

p. 191 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/proteus-in-the-underworld/not-it-he-bey.md)

> To a political mind, everything is politics.

p. 23 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/proteus-in-the-underworld/to-a-political.md)

> When you got right down to it, every important decision in life was made with inadequate information.

p. 190 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/proteus-in-the-underworld/when-you-got.md)