People need a sacred narrative. They must have a sense of larger purpose, in one form or another, however intellectualized. They will find a way to keep ancestral spirits alive.
E. O. WILSONThere is no better high than discovery.
More E. O. Wilson Quotes
-
-
Change will come slowly, across generations, because old beliefs die hard even when demonstrably false.
E. O. WILSON -
Well, let me tell you, ants are the dominant insects. They make up as much as a quarter of the biomass of all insects in the world. They are the principal predators. They’re the cemetery workers.
E. O. WILSON -
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.
E. O. WILSON -
Ants are the leading removers of dead creatures on the land. And the rest of life is substantially dependent upon them.
E. O. WILSON -
In some ways, I had a traditional ‘old South’ upbringing, meaning that I spent some time in a military school, and acquired an
E. O. WILSON -
Ants have the most complicated social organization on earth next to humans.
E. O. WILSON -
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 -
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 -
If those committed to the quest fail, they will be forgiven. When lost, they will find another way.
E. O. WILSON -
People respect nonfiction but they read novels.
E. O. WILSON -
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 -
When you have seen one ant, one bird, one tree, you have not seen them all.
E. O. WILSON -
We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom.
E. O. WILSON -
If we were to wipe out insects alone on this planet, the rest of life and humanity with it would mostly disappear from the land. Within a few months.
E. O. WILSON -
Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.
E. O. WILSON