Edward O. Wilson

Quotes

• “We are a biological species arising from Earth’s biosphere as one adapted species among many; and however splendid our l...”
• “All my life I have placed great store in civility and good manners, practices I find scarce among the often hard-edged, ...”
• “Human beings appear to be sufficiently selfish and calculating to be capable of indefinitely greater harmony and social ...”
• “The race is now on between the technoscientific and scientific forces that are destroying the living environment and tho...”
• “If there is danger in the human trajectory, it is not so much in the survival of our own species as in the fulfillment o...”
• “Science, its imperfections notwithstanding, is the sword in the stone that humanity finally pulled. The question it pose...”
• “If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thou...”
• “Social intelligence was therefore always at a high premium. A sharp sense of empathy can make a huge difference, and wit...”
• “I will argue that every scrap of biological diversity is priceless, to be learned and cherished, and never to be surrend...”
• “[E]very major religion today is a winner in the Darwinian struggle waged among cultures, and none ever flourished by tol...”
• “[Scientific humanism is] the only worldview compatible with science's growing knowledge of the real world and the laws o...”
• “The best way to live in this real world is to free ourselves of demons and tribal gods.”
• “A lifetime can be spent in a Magellanic voyage around the trunk of a single tree.”
• “Very often ambition and entrepreneurial drive, in combination, beat brilliance.”
• “You teach me, I forget. You show me, I remember. You involve me, I understand.”
• “Real scientists do not take vacations. They take field trips...”
• “There is no better high than discovery.”