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.
E. O. WILSONIf those committed to the quest fail, they will be forgiven. When lost, they will find another way.
More E. O. Wilson Quotes
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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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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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Religious belief itself is an adaptation that has evolved because we’re hard-wired to form tribalistic religions.
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Change will come slowly, across generations, because old beliefs die hard even when demonstrably false.
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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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I tend to believe that religious dogma is a consequence of evolution.
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Science for its part will test relentlessly every assumption about the human condition.
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Individual versus group selection results in a mix of altruism and selfishness, of virtue and sin, among the members of a society.
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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.
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Ideas emerge when a part of the real or imagined world is studied for its own sake.
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An individual ant, even though it has a brain about a millionth of a size of a human being’s, can learn a maze; the kind we use is a simple rat maze in a laboratory. They can learn it about one-half as fast as a rat.
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If history and science have taught us anything, it is that passion and desire are not the same as truth.
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If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.
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We have decommissioned natural selection and must now look deep within ourselves and decide what we wish to become.
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The education of women is the best way to save the environment.
E. O. WILSON