Quotes from E. O. Wilson

True character arises from a deeper well than religion.

The human mind evolved to believe in the gods. It did not evolve to believe in biology.

The brain and its satellite glands have now been probed to the point where no particular site remains that can reasonably be supposed to harbour a nonphysical mind.

The human race is not divided into two opposing camps of good and evil. It is made up of those who are capable of learning and those who are incapable of doing so.

'The Creation' presents an argument for saving biological diversity on Earth. Most of the book is for as broad an audience as possible.

Let us see how high we can fly before the sun melts the wax in our wings.

In the early stages of creation of both art and science, everything in the mind is a story.

By any reasonable measure of achievement, the faith of the Enlightenment thinkers in science was justified.

Science and technology are what we can do; morality is what we agree we should or should not do.

Science and religion are the two most powerful forces in the world. Having them at odds... is not productive.

We use pandas and eagles and things. I'd love to see a wilderness society with an angry-looking wolverine as their logo.

There can be no purpose more enspiriting than to begin the age of restoration, reweaving the wondrous diversity of life that still surrounds us.

Ants are the leading removers of dead creatures on the land. And the rest of life is substantially dependent upon them.

If those committed to the quest fail, they will be forgiven. When lost, they will find another way. The moral imperative of humanism is the endeavor alone, whether successful or not, provided the effort is honorable and failure memorable.

The genius of human society is in fact the ease with which alliances are formed, broken, and reconstituted, always with strong emotional appeals to rules believed to be absolute.

A society that condemns homosexuality harms itself. (254)

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.

Humanity is exalted not because we are so far above other living creatures, but because knowing them well elevates the very concept of life.

The work on ants has profoundly affected the way I think about humans.

I tend to believe that religious dogma is a consequence of evolution.

The variety of genes on the planet in viruses exceeds, or is likely to exceed, that in all of the rest of life combined.

In the attempt to make scientific discoveries, every problem is an opportunity — and the more difficult the problem, the greater will be the importance of its solution.

The truth is that we need invertebrates but they don't need us. If human beings were to disappear tomorrow, the world would go on with little change…. But if invertebrates were to disappear, I doubt that the human species could last more than a few months.

Political ideology can corrupt the mind, and science.