Human beings function better if they are deceived by their genes into thinking that there is a disinterested objective morality binding upon… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Ants have the most complicated social organization on earth next to humans. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
But I feel music has a very important role in ritual activity, and that being able to join in musical activity, along… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
I see no way out of the problems that organized religion and tribalism create other than humans just becoming more honest and… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Of course, there is no reconciliation between the theory of evolution by natural selection and the traditional religious view of the origin… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Overall, the human brain is the most complex object known in the universe - known, that is, to itself. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
People must belong to a tribe; they yearn to have a purpose larger than themselves. We are obligated by the deepest drives… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
That is the great mystery of human evolution: how to account for calculus and Mozart. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The work on ants has profoundly affected the way I think about humans. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
An individual ant, even though it has a brain about a millionth of a size of a human being's, can learn a… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
It's always been a great survival value for people to believe they belong to a superior tribe. That's just in human relationships. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The time has come to link ecology to economic and human development. When you have seen one ant, one bird, one tree,… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
I would say that for the sake of human progress, the best thing we could possibly do would be to diminish, to… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Darwin's dice have rolled badly for Earth. The human species is, in a word, an environmental abnormality. Perhaps a law of evolution… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Human existence may be simpler than we thought. There is no predestination, no unfathomed mystery of life. Demons and gods do not… — 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
