“We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. 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.”
Time
“Theology made no provision for evolution. The biblical authors had missed the most important revelation of all! Could it be that they were not really privy to the thoughts of God?”
GodAll Quotes by E. O. Wilson
“Science and religion are the two most powerful forces in the world. Having them at odds... is not productive.”
Religion“For me, the peculiar qualities of faith are a logical outcome of this level of biological organization.”
Faith“The education of women is the best way to save the environment.”
Best“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.”
Great“In my heart, I'm an Alabaman who went up north to work.”
Work“If history and science have taught us anything, it is that passion and desire are not the same as truth.”
History“A very Faustian choice is upon us: whether to accept our corrosive and risky behavior as the unavoidable price of population and economic growth, or to take stock of ourselves and search for a new environmental ethic.”
Environmental“Individual versus group selection results in a mix of altruism and selfishness, of virtue and sin, among the members of a society.”
Society“Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.”
Nature“Theology made no provision for evolution. The biblical authors had missed the most important revelation of all! Could it be that they were not really privy to the thoughts of God?”
God“The work on ants has profoundly affected the way I think about humans.”
Work“I see no way out of the problems that organized religion and tribalism create other than humans just becoming more honest and fully aware of themselves.”
Religion“By any reasonable measure of achievement, the faith of the Enlightenment thinkers in science was justified.”
Faith“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. Aim high. Behave honorably. Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure. Persist! The world needs all you can give.”
Alone“So in my freshman year at the University of Alabama, learning the literature on evolution, what was known about it biologically, just gradually transformed me by taking me out of literalism and increasingly into a more secular, scientific view of the world.”
Learning“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.”
Alone“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?”
Truth“True character arises from a deeper well than religion.”
Religion“The biological evolutionary perception of life and of human qualities is radically different from that of traditional religion, whether it's Southern Baptist or Islam or any religion that believes in a supernatural supervalance over humanity.”
Religion