We have decommissioned natural selection and must now look deep within ourselves and decide what we wish to become.
E. O. WILSONAim high. Behave honorably. Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure.
More E. O. Wilson Quotes
-
-
Of course, there is no reconciliation between the theory of evolution by natural selection and the traditional religious view of the origin of the human mind.
E. O. WILSON -
This is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive us.
E. O. WILSON -
In many environments, take away the ants and there would be partial collapses in many of the land ecosystems.
E. O. WILSON -
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.
E. O. WILSON -
Science and religion are the two most powerful forces in the world. Having them at odds… is not productive.
E. O. WILSON -
Religious beliefs evolved by group-selection, tribe competing against tribe, and the illogic of religions is not a weakness but their essential strength.
E. O. WILSON -
Every kid has a bug period… I never grew out of mine.
E. O. WILSON -
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?
E. O. WILSON -
The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.
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 -
If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago.
E. O. WILSON -
One thing I did was grow up as an ardent naturalist. I never grew out of my bug period.
E. O. WILSON -
Ants have the most complicated social organization on earth next to humans.
E. O. WILSON -
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.
E. O. WILSON -
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. WILSON