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
Character is in turn the enduring source of virtue. It stands by itself and excites admiration in others. It is not obedience… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Every major religion today is a winner in the Darwinian struggle waged among cultures, and none ever flourished by tolerating its rivals. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
[P]rescientific people... could never guess the nature of physical reality beyond the tiny sphere attainable by unaided common sense. Nothing else ever… — 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
I tend to believe that religious dogma is a consequence of evolution. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
People need a sacred narrative. They must have a sense of larger purpose, in one form or another, however intellectualized. They will… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
We ought to recognize that religious strife is not the consequence of differences among people. It's about conflicts between creation stories. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
[W]hen the martyr's righteous forebrain is exploded by the executioner's bullet and his mind disintegrates, what then? Can we safely assume that… — 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
The essence of humanity's spiritual dilemma is that we evolved genetically to accept one truth and discovered another. Is there a way… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Religious belief itself is an adaptation that has evolved because we're hard-wired to form tribalistic religions. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
By any reasonable measure of achievement, the faith of the Enlightenment thinkers in science was justified. Today the greatest divide within humanity… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
All three of the Abrahamic religions were born and nurtured in arid, disturbed environments. — 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 and religion are the two most powerful forces in the world. Having them at odds... is not productive. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The brain and its satellite glands have now been probed to the point where no particular site remains that can reasonably be… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
If religion and science could be united on the common ground of biological conservation, the problem would be soon solved. If there… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The most dangerous of devotions, in my opinion, is the one endemic to Christianity: I was not born to be of this… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
[T]he true natural sciences lock together in theory and evidence to form the ineradicable technical base of modern civilization. The pseudosciences satisfy… — 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
The toxic mix of religion and tribalism has become so dangerous as to justify taking seriously the alternative view, that humanism based… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
In fact, nothing in science as a whole has been more firmly established by interwoven factual information, or more illuminating than the… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
No statistical proofs exist that prayer reduces illness and mortality, except perhaps through a psychogenic enhancement of the immune system; if it… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
For me, the peculiar qualities of faith are a logical outcome of this level of biological organization. — 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
![“[P]rescientific people... could never guess the nature of physical reality…” quote by E. O. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0d0/e-o-wilson-1348_art_p-rescientific-people-could-never-guess_717283.jpg)
![“[W]hen the martyr's righteous forebrain is exploded by the executioner's…” quote by E. O. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/af7/e-o-wilson-1348_assuming_w-hen-the-martyr-s-righteous-forebrain-i_1069533.jpg)
![“[T]he true natural sciences lock together in theory and evidence…” quote by E. O. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/db8/e-o-wilson-1348_civilization_t-he-true-natural-sciences-lock-together_2419733.jpg)
