Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.
E. O. WILSONNature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.
More E. O. Wilson Quotes
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The variety of genes on the planet in viruses exceeds, or is likely to exceed, that in all of the rest of life combined.
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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.
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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.
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By any reasonable measure of achievement, the faith of the Enlightenment thinkers in science was justified.
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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.
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Religious belief itself is an adaptation that has evolved because we’re hard-wired to form tribalistic religions.
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It’s always been a great survival value for people to believe they belong to a superior tribe. That’s just in human relationships.
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The essence of humanity’s spiritual dilemma is that we evolved genetically to accept one truth and discovered another. Is there a way to erase the dilemma, to resolve the contradictions between the transcendentalist and the empiricist world views?
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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.
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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.
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Our brain is mapping the world. Often that map is distorted, but it’s a map with constant immediate sensory input.
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People respect nonfiction but they read novels.
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The two major challenges for the 21st century are to improve the economic situation of the majority and save as much of the planet as we can.
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Jehovah had nothing to say to Moses and the others about the care of the planet. He had plenty to say about tribal loyalty and conquest.
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Ants make up two-thirds of the biomass of all the insects. There are millions of species of organisms and we know almost nothing about them.
E. O. WILSON