E. O. Wilson Quotes & Sayings (Page 9)

“People need a sacred narrative. They must have a sense of larger purpose, in one form or another, however intellectualized. They will find a way to keep ancestral spirits alive.”

“But I feel music has a very important role in ritual activity, and that being able to join in musical activity, along with dancing, could have been necessary at a very early stage of human culture.”

“In some ways, I had a traditional 'old South' upbringing, meaning that I spent some time in a military school, and acquired an inoculum of the military ethic that is still with me today: honor, duty, loyalty.”

“What's been gratifying is to live long enough to see molecular biology and evolutionary biology growing toward each other and uniting in research efforts.”

“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.”

“I thought perhaps it should be recognized that religious people, including fundamentalists, are quite intelligent, many of them are highly educated, and they should be treated with complete respect.”

“Of course, there is no reconciliation between the theory of evolution by natural selection and the traditional religious view of the origin of the human mind.”

“To the extent that philosophical positions both confuse us and close doors to further inquiry, they are likely to be wrong.”

“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.”

“It's like having astronomy without knowing where the stars are.”