Quotes by E. O. Wilson

About E. O. Wilson:

Edward Osborne is an American biologist, researcher (sociobiology, biodiversity, island biogeography), theorist (consilience, biophilia), naturalist (conservationist) and author. His biological specialty is myrmecology, the study of ants, on which he is considered to be the world's leading expert.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

[E]very major religion today is a winner in the Darwinian struggle waged among cultures, and none ever flourished by tolerating its rivals.

E. O. Wilson

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...

E. O. Wilson

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.

E. O. Wilson

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.

E. O. Wilson

The education of women is the best way to save the environment.

E. O. Wilson

I had in mind a message, although I hope it doesn't intrude too badly, persuading Americans, and especially Southerners, of the critical importance of land and our vanishing natural environment and wildlife.

E. O. Wilson

If history and science have taught us anything, it is that passion and desire are not the same as truth.

E. O. Wilson

If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.

E. O. Wilson

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.

E. O. Wilson

Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.

E. O. Wilson

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.

E. O. Wilson

It's always been a great survival value for people to believe they belong to a superior tribe. That's just in human relationships.

E. O. Wilson

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

I've found that good dialogue tells you not only what people are saying or how they're communicating but it tells you a great deal - by dialect and tone, content and circumstance - about the quality of the character.

E. O. Wilson

Blind faith, no matter how passionately expressed, will not suffice. Science for its part will test relentlessly every assumption about the human condition.

E. O. Wilson

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

E. O. Wilson

For me, the peculiar qualities of faith are a logical outcome of this level of biological organization.

E. O. Wilson

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?

E. O. Wilson

It's obvious that the key problem facing humanity in the coming century is how to bring a better quality of life - for 8 billion or more people - without wrecking the environment entirely in the attempt.

E. O. Wilson

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.

E. O. Wilson

Author Bio

  • NameE. O. Wilson
  • DescriptionAmerican biologist
  • AliasesE. O. Wilson; Edward Osborne Wilson
  • BornJune 10, 1929
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionEntomologist; Sociobiologist; Novelist; Ethologist; Autobiographer; Naturalist; Evolutionary Biologist; Science Writer
  • WorksBiophilia Hypothesis
  • AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship; Pulitzer Prize For General Non-Fiction; Pulitzer Prize For General Non-Fiction; Humanist Of The Year; William Procter Prize For Scientific Achievement; Tyler Prize For Environmental Achievement; Crafoord Prize