It often occurs to me that if, against all odds, there is a judgmental God and heaven, it will come to pass that when the pearly gates open, those who had the valor to think for themselves will be escorted to the head of the line, garlanded, and given their own personal audience.

That's the way to get young people. Once they see there are wonderful things to hunt for, to rediscover a species that was thought to be extinct or is extremely rare, to be the first to see a nest, to discover a new species unsuspected close to your home - these are things, I think, with a little education and excitement and the right kind of natural history would actually start a movement that makes going back to nature a profitable adventure.

I think that's my nature, to want to bring people together rather than to try to bombard them into agreement.

Human beings function better if they are deceived by their genes into thinking that there is a disinterested objective morality binding upon them, which all should obey.

The work on ants has profoundly affected the way I think about humans.

To know how scientists engage in visual imagery is to understand how they think creatively.

I think history has shown that the worst way to [try to] bring people over and actually change public opinion is by insult and applied degradation of them.

I doubt that most people with short-term thinking love the natural world enough to save it.

We don't know nearly enough about the complexities of Nature. If we think we can eliminate natural ecosystems and substitute prosthetic devices, i.e. clean air or water with fusion energy - we are kidding ourselves.