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 Admiration 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
We are compelled to drive toward total knowledge, right down to the levels of the neuron and the gene. When we have… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
The search for knowledge is in our genes. It was put there by our distant ancestors who spread across the world, and… — E. O. Wilson Ancestor Copy Share Image
The commitment must be much deeper - to let no species knowingly die; to take all reasonable action to protect every species… — E. O. Wilson Action 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 Absolutes Copy Share Image
The global conservation organisations are doing everything they can on modest budgets. They essentially promote setting aside reserves and parks around the… — E. O. Wilson Around the world Copy Share Image
America in particular imposes an horrendous burden on the world. We have this wonderful standard of living but it comes at enormous… — E. O. Wilson America 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
Hands-on experience at the critical time, not systematic knowledge, is what counts in the making of a naturalist. Better to be an… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Common sense is merely unaided intuition, and unaided intuition is reasoning performed in the absense of instruments and the tested knowledge of… — 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 Beautiful Copy Share Image
We don't even know what species are out there, for the most part, particularly when you get down to the microbes and… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Consider the nematode roundworm, the most abundant of all animals. Four out of five animals on Earth are nematode worms — if… — E. O. Wilson Animal Copy Share Image
“If there is danger in the human trajectory, it is not so much in the survival of our own species as in… — E. O. Wilson Danger 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 Art Copy Share Image
If someone could actually prove scientifically that there is such a thing as a supernatural force, it would be one of the… — E. O. Wilson Discovery Copy Share Image
The one process now going on that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity… — E. O. Wilson Conservation Copy Share Image
The historical circumstance of interest is that the tropical rain forests have persisted over broad parts of the continents since their origins… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
I was a senior in high school when I decided I wanted to work on ants as a career. I just fell… — E. O. Wilson Ants 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 Athlete 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 Abundance Copy Share Image
We don't need to clear the 4 to 6 percent of the Earth's surface remaining in tropical rain forests, with most of… — E. O. Wilson Animal Copy Share Image
Theology made no provision for evolution. The biblical authors had missed the most important revelation of all! Could it be that they… — E. O. Wilson Biblical 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… — E. O. Wilson Age 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 Conflict 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 Ants Copy Share Image
If we were to wipe out insects alone on this planet, the rest of life and humanity with it would mostly disappear… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
I think history has shown that the worst way to [try to] bring people over and actually change public opinion is by… — E. O. Wilson Degradation 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
If those committed to the quest fail, they will be forgiven. When lost, they will find another way. The moral imperative of… — E. O. Wilson Adventure Copy Share Image
Every kid has a bug period, I like to say, and I just got so fascinated and I had that experience, that… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Ants are the dominant insects of the world, and they've had a great impact on habitats almost all over the land surface… — E. O. Wilson Ants Copy Share Image
We don't know nearly enough about the complexities of Nature. If we think we can eliminate natural ecosystems and substitute prosthetic devices,… — 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… — E. O. Wilson Copy Share Image
Individual versus group selection results in a mix of altruism and selfishness, of virtue and sin, among the members of a society. — E. O. Wilson Altruism Copy Share Image
People yearn to be in one of the best--a combat marine regiment, an elite college, the executive committee of a company, a… — E. O. Wilson Clubs Copy Share Image
The closer the genetic relationship of the family members, as for example father-to-son, as opposed to uncle-to-nephew, the higher the degree of… — E. O. Wilson Cooperation 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… — E. O. Wilson Biosphere Copy Share Image
What's been gratifying is to live long enough to see molecular biology and evolutionary biology growing toward each other and uniting in… — E. O. Wilson Biology 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 worked, no exercise from myth, revelation, art, trance, or any other conceivable means; and notwithstanding the emotional satisfaction it gives…” quote by E. O. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d0/e-o-wilson-1348_art_p-rescientific-people-could-never-guess_717283.jpg)
![“I think history has shown that the worst way to [try to] bring people over and actually change public opinion is by insult and applied degradation of them.” quote by E. O. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a1/e-o-wilson-1348_degradation_i-think-history-has-shown-that-the-worst_257290.png)
