Competing is intense among humans, and within a group, selfish individuals always win. But in contests between groups, groups of altruists always… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The biological evolutionary perception of life and of human qualities is radically different from that of traditional religion, whether it's Southern Baptist… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
So, the ant way of life is very ancient and very successful. As far as human beings are concerned, we've been around… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Yes, the natural sciences are telling us a great deal about human origins, the origins of our species the origins of our… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
No species ... possesses a purpose beyond the imperatives created by genetic history ... The human mind is a device for survival… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Without the instruments and accumulated knowledge of the natural sciences... humans are trapped in a cognitive prison. They are like intelligent fish… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
One difference between ants and humans is that while ants send their old women off to war, humans send their young men. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Most people believe they know how they themselves think, how others think too, and even how institutions evolve. But they are wrong.… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Biophilia: the innate pleasure from living abundance and diversity as manifested by the human impulse to imitate Nature with gardens. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The price of these failures has been a loss of moral consensus, a greater sense of helplessness about the human condition. ...… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Blind faith, no matter how passionately expressed, will not suffice. Science for its part will test relentlessly every assumption about the human… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The human juggernaut is permanently eroding Earth's ancient biosphere. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Biophilia, if it exists, and I believe it exists, is the innately emotional affiliation of human beings to other living organisms. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The cost of scientific advance is the humbling recognition that reality was not constructed to be easily grasped by the human mind.… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The human mind evolved to believe in the gods. It did not evolve to believe in biology. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Today [the voice of women] is being heard loud and clear. But I do not read the welcome triumph of feminism, social,… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The cutting of primeval forest and other disasters, fueled by the demands of growing human populations, are the overriding threat to biological… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The genes hold culture on a leash. The leash is very long, but inevitably values will be constrained in accordance with their… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The genius of human society is in fact the ease with which alliances are formed, broken, and reconstituted, always with strong emotional… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
To be anthropocentric is to remain unaware of the limits of human nature, the significance of biological processes underlying human behavior, and… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
To genetic evolution, the human lineage has added the parallel track of cultural evolution. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The human race is not divided into two opposing camps of good and evil. It is made up of those who are… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
While ants exist in just the right numbers for the rest of the living world, humans have become too numerous. If we… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The green prehuman earth is the mystery we were chosen to solve, a guide to the birthplace of our spirit, but it… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Science offers the boldest metaphysics of the age. It is a thoroughly human construct, driven by the faith that if we dream,… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Without a trace of irony I can say I have been blessed with brilliant enemies. I owe them a great debt, because they redoubled… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
It's always been a dream of mine, of exploring the living world, of classifying all the species and finding out what makes up the… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Competing is intense among humans, and within a group, selfish individuals always win. But in contests between groups, groups of altruists always beat groups… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The commitment must be much deeper - to let no species knowingly die; to take all reasonable action to protect every species and race… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Science is not marginal. Like art, it is a universal possession of humanity, and scientific knowledge has become a vital part of our species'… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The living environment is the biosphere, the thin layer around the world of living organisms. We're part of that. Our existence is dependent on… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The biological evolutionary perception of life and of human qualities is radically different from that of traditional religion, whether it's Southern Baptist or Islam… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
We should preserve every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use it and come to understand what it means to humanity. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
In many environments, take away the ants and there would be partial collapses in many of the land ecosystems. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
If those committed to the quest fail, they will be forgiven. When lost, they will find another way. The moral imperative of humanism is… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The extinctions ongoing worldwide promise to be at least as great as the mass extinction that occurred at the end of the age of… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image