25 E. O. Wilson Quotes To Inspire You

E.O. Wilson was an American bugologist, conservationist, and author.

E.O. Wilson was nicknamed fondly as the ant man for his innovative research on ants and was dubbed Darwin's natural heir. Here we've brought a patchwork of memorable quotes from Wilson on the environment and evolution.

Read, explore, enjoy, and share quotes of E.O. Wilson with your near and dear ones.

E. O. Wilson Quotes on Human History

("Humans are unparalleled in their ability to deceive society of their own species" and more E. O. Wilson quotes here at Kidadl)

Enjoy these irreproachable quotes of E.O. Wilson.

"The human mind evolved to believe in the gods. It did not evolve to believe in biology."

— 'The Biological Basis of Morality', April 1998.

"Humanity is exalted not because we are so far above other living creatures, but because knowing them well elevates the very concept of life."

"Ants have the most complicated social organization on earth next to humans."

"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."

"True spite is a commonplace in human societies, undoubtedly because human beings are keenly aware of their own blood lines and have the intelligence to plot intrigue."

— 'Sociobiology', 1975.

Best-known E. O. Wilson Book quotes

These quotes from E.O. Wilson's books are priceless.

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

— 'Consilience', 1998.

Human nature is deeper and broader than the artificial contrivance of any existing culture.”
― 'The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth'.

"I interpret contemporary human social behavior to comprise hypertrophic outgrowths of the simpler features of human nature joined together into an irregular mosaic."

—  'On Human Nature', 1978.

"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."

— 'Biophilia', 1984.

"We’re not ants, and we can do what ants can’t: pull up to the nearest campfire, toast a marshmallow, sing a song."

— 'The Social Conquest of the Earth'.

"Humanity is exalted not because we are so far above other living creatures, but because knowing them well elevates the very concept of life."

"Change will come slowly, across generations, because old beliefs die hard even when demonstrably false."

— 'Consilience'.

E. O. Wilson Quotes On Environment

These quotes emphasize that humankind's greed is terrifically dangerous to the environment.

"Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction."

— 'On Human Nature'.

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

"We should preserve every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use it and come to understand what it means to humanity."

— 'The Diversity of Life', 1992.

"Biological diversity is the key to the maintenance of the world as we know it... Eliminate one species, and another increases to take its place. Eliminate a great many species, and the local ecosystem starts to decay."

"Exclusion makes us suffer, inclusion makes us thrive."

"[Bacteria are the] dark matter of the biological world [with 4 million mostly unknown species in a ton of soil]."

"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."

Famous E. O. Wilson Quotes

These insightful quotes make you aware of the actual human dilemma.

"The real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology."

— September 10, 2009, 'An Intellectual Entente', harvardmagazine.com.

"Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure."

"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. ”

“What is man? Storyteller, mythmaker, and destroyer of the living world. Thinking”
― 'Half-Earth: Our Planet's Fight for Life'.

"Only in the last moment of human history has the delusion arisen that people can flourish apart from the rest of the living world."

"True character arises from a deeper well than religion. It is the internalization of moral principles of a society, augmented by those tenets personally chosen by the individual, strong enough to endure through trials of solitude and adversity."