{"author":"Edward O. Wilson","author_id":"Edward+O.+Wilson","total_quotes":25,"quotes":[{"text":"[E]very major religion today is a winner in the Darwinian struggle waged among cultures, and none ever flourished by tolerating its rivals.","author":"Edward O. Wilson","tags":["evolution","natural-selection","struggle","tolerance"],"id":2050,"author_id":"Edward+O.+Wilson"},{"text":"We are a biological species arising from Earth’s biosphere as one adapted species among many; and however splendid our languages and cultures, however rich and subtle our minds, however vast our creative powers, the mental process is the product of a brain shaped by the hammer of natural selection upon the anvil of nature.","author":"Edward O. Wilson","tags":["humility","psychology","science"],"id":51022,"author_id":"Edward+O.+Wilson"},{"text":"There is no better high than discovery.","author":"Edward O. Wilson","tags":["life","sobriety"],"id":69261,"author_id":"Edward+O.+Wilson"},{"text":"And we really should be considering the moral implications of what we're doing. What kind of a species are we that we treat the rest of life so cheaply? There are those who think that's the destiny of Earth: We arrived, we're humanizing the Earth, and it will be the destiny of Earth for us to wipe humans out and most of the rest of biodiversity. But I think the great majority of thoughtful people consider that a morally wrong position to take, and a very dangerous one.","author":"Edward O. Wilson","tags":["earth","extinction","human-stupidity"],"id":74915,"author_id":"Edward+O.+Wilson"},{"text":"They travel long distances to stroll along the seashore, for reasons they can't put into words.","author":"Edward O. Wilson","tags":["biophilia","nature","seashore"],"id":85075,"author_id":"Edward+O.+Wilson"},{"text":"Human beings appear to be sufficiently selfish and calculating to be capable of indefinitely greater harmony and social homeostasis. This statement is not self-contradictory. True selfishness, if obedient to the other constraints of mammalian biology, is the key to a more nearly perfect social contract. - pg. 157.","author":"Edward O. Wilson","tags":["selfishness","society"],"id":108650,"author_id":"Edward+O.+Wilson"},{"text":"All my life I have placed great store in civility and good manners, practices I find scarce among the often hard-edged, badly socialized scientists with whom I associate. Tone of voice means a great deal to me in the course of debate. I despise the arrogance and doting self-regard so frequently found among the very bright.","author":"Edward O. Wilson","tags":["arrogance","bad-attitude","etiquette","good-manners","ill-mannered-scientists","impoliteness","manners","politeness","politesse","poor-manners","rudeness","self-regard","tone-of-voice"],"id":129869,"author_id":"Edward+O.+Wilson"},{"text":"Humanity is a biological species, living in a biological environment, because like all species, we are exquisitely adapted in everything: from our behavior, to our genetics, to our physiology, to that particular environment in which we live. The earth is our home. Unless we preserve the rest of life, as a sacred duty, we will be endangering ourselves by destroying the home in which we evolved, and on which we completely depend.","author":"Edward O. Wilson","tags":["biology","diversity","environment","evolution","preservation","science"],"id":144091,"author_id":"Edward+O.+Wilson"},{"text":"Science, its imperfections notwithstanding, is the sword in the stone that humanity finally pulled. The question it poses, of universal and orderly materialism, is the most important that can be asked in philosophy and religion.","author":"Edward O. Wilson","tags":["science"],"id":184720,"author_id":"Edward+O.+Wilson"},{"text":"Human beings were made for music. Its thrill and rapture are picked up almost immediately by little children.","author":"Edward O. Wilson","tags":["music"],"id":200799,"author_id":"Edward+O.+Wilson"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":25,"pages":3,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}