A biography for E. O. Wilsonhasn’t been written yet.
“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.”
“Ants are the leading removers of dead creatures on the land. And the rest of life is substantially dependent upon them.”
“Even as empiricism is winning the mind, transcendentalism continues to win the heart.”
“Science and religion are the two most powerful forces in the world. Having them at odds... is not productive.”
“The work on ants has profoundly affected the way I think about humans.”
“The two major challenges for the 21st century are to improve the economic situation of the majority and save as much of the planet as we can.”
“The education of women is the best way to save the environment.”
“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.”
“I was a senior in high school when I decided I wanted to work on ants as a career. I just fell in love with them, and have never regretted it.”
“What we need is an electronic encyclopedia of life, with one page for each species. On each page is given everything known about that species.”
“The human mind evolved to believe in the gods. It did not evolve to believe in biology.”
“By any reasonable measure of achievement, the faith of the Enlightenment thinkers in science was justified.”
“Perhaps the time has come to cease calling it the 'environmentalist' view, as though it were a lobbying effort outside the mainstream of human activity, and to start calling it the real-world view.”
“The variety of genes on the planet in viruses exceeds, or is likely to exceed, that in all of the rest of life combined.”
“Religious beliefs evolved by group-selection, tribe competing against tribe, and the illogic of religions is not a weakness but their essential strength.”
“Every kid has a bug period... I never grew out of mine.”
“'The Creation' presents an argument for saving biological diversity on Earth. Most of the book is for as broad an audience as possible.”
“I grew up as a Southern Baptist with strict adherence to the Bible, which I read as a youngster.”
“All three of the Abrahamic religions were born and nurtured in arid, disturbed environments.”
“True character arises from a deeper well than religion.”