Science is not marginal. Like art, it is a universal possession of humanity, and scientific knowledge has become a vital part of… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
[The natural world cleans water, pollinates plants and provides pharmaceuticals, among many other gifts.] Thirty trillion dollars worth of services, scot-free to… — 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
In science, you really do need to have a purpose-driven life. You will succeed to the extent that you get the most… — 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
The growth of a naturalist is like the growth of a musician or athlete: excellence for the talented, lifelong enjoyment for the… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
It may be argued that to know one kind of beetle is to know them all. But a species is not like… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The second half of the 20th century was a golden age of molecular biology, and it was one of the golden ages… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
I believe that traditional religious belief and scientific knowledge depict the universe in radically different ways. At the bedrock they are incompatible… — 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
Now when you cut a forest, an ancient forest in particular, you are not just removing a lot of big trees and… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
In the attempt to make scientific discoveries, every problem is an opportunity — and the more difficult the problem, the greater will… — 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
To know how scientists engage in visual imagery is to understand how they think creatively. — 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
So in my freshman year at the University of Alabama, learning the literature on evolution, what was known about it biologically, just… — 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 students of biodiversity, the ones we most need in science today, have an enormous task ahead of molecular biology and the… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
To search for unasked questions, plus questions to put to already acquired but unsought answers, it is vital to give full play… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
By any reasonable measure of achievement, the faith of the Enlightenment thinkers in science was justified. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
In science, obsessiveness under psychological control can be a virtue. — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Far more important throughout the rest of science is the ability to form concepts, during which the researcher conjures images and processes… — 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
If history and science have taught us anything, it is that passion and desire are not the same as truth. — 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