“It’s always been a great survival value for people to believe they belong to a superior tribe. That’s just in human relationships.”

The one process now going on that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats.

It’s obvious that the key problem facing humanity in the coming century is how to bring a better quality of life – for 8 billion or more people – without wrecking the environment entirely in the attempt.

Without a trace of irony I can say I have been blessed with brilliant enemies. I owe them a great debt, because they redoubled my energies and drove me in new directions.

I’m very much a Christian in ideals and ethics, especially in terms of belief in fairness, a deep set obligation to others, and the virtues of charity, tolerance and generosity that we associate with traditional Christian teaching.

Blind faith, no matter how passionately expressed, will not suffice.

Competing is intense among humans, and within a group, selfish individuals always win. But in contests between groups, groups of altruists always beat groups of selfish individuals.

Political ideology can corrupt the mind, and science.

Because the living environment is what really sustains us.

Every major religion today is a winner in the Darwinian struggle waged among cultures, and none ever flourished by tolerating its rivals.

Ants are the dominant insects of the world, and they’ve had a great impact on habitats almost all over the land surface of the world for more than 50-million years.

What’s been gratifying is to live long enough to see molecular biology and evolutionary biology growing toward each other and uniting in research efforts.

Aim high. Behave honorably. Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure.

People respect nonfiction but they read novels.

You are capable of more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you and strive to be the best, however hard the path.

I tend to believe that religious dogma is a consequence of evolution.

By any reasonable measure of achievement, the faith of the Enlightenment thinkers in science was justified.

Never forget that we were enslaved in this country longer than we have been free.

Hitting the bottle again, ever than I’ve drunker been. Or is it drunker than I’ve ever been?

He had lived and acted on the assumption that he was alone, and now he saw that he had not been. What he had done made others suffer.

Elizabeth. Only the strongest people have the pluck to change their minds, and say so, if they see they have been wrong in their ideas.

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

I believe that many politicians think this has been the way it has always been, so what’s the problem?

A feeling of violation swayed inside me, making me feel as if id been shoved off a high platform without warning. I was falling, and i feared the sensation far more than hitting bottom. There was no end; just a constantsense of gravity having its way with me.

Youve never been to school, ever? If thats true and youre right, i dont think it iswhat made you decide to come this year? You….Your eyes, nora. Those cold, pale gray eyes are surprisingly irresistible. He tipped his head sideways, as if to study me from a new angle. And that killer curvy mouth