Competing is intense among humans, and within a group, selfish individuals always win. But in contests between groups, groups of altruists always beat groups of selfish individuals. E. O. Wilson More Quotes by E. O. Wilson More Quotes From E. O. Wilson The great challenge of the twenty-first century is to raise people everywhere to a decent standard of living while preserving as much of the rest of life as possible. E. O. Wilson rest-of-life challenges people It may be argued that to know one kind of beetle is to know them all. But a species is not like a molecule in a cloud of molecules-it is a unique population. E. O. Wilson unique clouds science The love of complexity without reductionism makes art; the love of complexity with reductionism makes science. E. O. Wilson reductionism complexity art Karl Marx was right, socialism works, it is just that he had the wrong species E. O. Wilson species working-it socialism To genetic evolution, the human lineage has added the parallel track of cultural evolution. E. O. Wilson lineage track evolution This planet can be a paradise in the 22nd century. E. O. Wilson paradise planets century Adults forget the depths of languor into which the adolescent mind decends with ease. They are prone to undervalue the mental growth that occurs during daydreaming and aimless wandering E. O. Wilson adults growth mind Daily life is a comprimised blend of posturing for the sake of role-playing and of varying degrees of self-revelation. Under stressful conditions even the "true" self cannot be precisely defined, as Erving Goffman observes. ...Little wonder that the identity crisis is a major source of modern neuroticism, and that the urban middle class aches for a return to a simpler existence. E. O. Wilson identity self class Well, let me tell you, ants are the dominant insects. They make up as much as a quarter of the biomass of all insects in the world. They are the principal predators. They're the cemetery workers. E. O. Wilson predator ants world It often occurs to me that if, against all odds, there is a judgmental God and heaven, it will come to pass that when the pearly gates open, those who had the valor to think for themselves will be escorted to the head of the line, garlanded, and given their own personal audience. E. O. Wilson odds heaven thinking Yes, the natural sciences are telling us a great deal about human origins, the origins of our species the origins of our minds; we're on our way to explaining a large part of it. I'll accept an answer provided only by such means as obtaining and exploring, analyzing and arguing over the evidence - not because of a scribe's myopic view of the subject written 500 years before the birth of Christ! E. O. Wilson views mean years I had reached a point in my career in which I was ready to try something new in my writing, and the idea of a novel has always been in the back of my mind. E. O. Wilson careers writing ideas I will argue that every scrap of biological diversity is priceless, to be learned and cherished, and never to be surrendered without a struggle. E. O. Wilson diversity struggle arguing To search for unasked questions, plus questions to put to already acquired but unsought answers, it is vital to give full play to the imagination. That is the way to create truly original science. E. O. Wilson imagination play giving The world depends on fungi, because they are major players in the cycling of materials and energy around the world. E. O. Wilson cycling energy player In the end ... success or failure will come down to an ethical decision, one on which those now living will be judged for generations to come. E. O. Wilson ethical generations decision 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. E. O. Wilson alabama views years 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. E. O. Wilson mind brain religion By any reasonable measure of achievement, the faith of the Enlightenment thinkers in science was justified. Today the greatest divide within humanity is not between races, or religions, or even, as is widely believed, between the literate and illiterate. It is the chasm that separates scientific from prescientific cultures. E. O. Wilson achievement race humanity 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 impact land years
