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
I have argued in this book that we are human in good part because of the particular way we affiliate with other organisms. They are the matrix in which the human mind originated and is permanently rooted, and they offer the challenge and freedom innately sought. To the extent that each person can feel like a naturalist, the old excitement of the untrammeled world will be regained. I offer this as a formula of enchantment to invigorate poetry and myth: mysterious and little known organisms live within walking distance of where you sit. Splendor awaits in minute proportions.
—E. O. Wilson
Topics: Wilderness
People would rather believe than know.
—E. O. Wilson
Only in the last moment of human history has the delusion arisen that people can flourish apart from the rest of the living world.
—E. O. Wilson
Topics: Wildlife
It’s like having astronomy without knowing where the stars are.
—E. O. Wilson
We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.
—E. O. Wilson
I will be brief. Not nearly so brief as Salvador Dali, who gave the world’s shortest speech. He said I will be so brief I have already finished, and he sat down.
—E. O. Wilson
Topics: Brevity
Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.
—E. O. Wilson
Topics: Satisfaction
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Stephen Jay Gould American Paleontologist
Charles Darwin British Naturalist
John Muir American Naturalist
Jonas Salk American Virologist
Thomas Henry Huxley English Biologist
J. B. S. Haldane British Biologist
James D. Watson American Biologist
Norman Mailer American Novelist, Journalist
Henry Adams American Historian
Carl Sagan American Astronomer