The creative arts are among both the most intellectually advanced and most ephermal of human endeavors. “The arts are true to the way we are and were”.
E. O. WilsonThe most successful member of a stable society has a strong sense of empathy. It can see what others see, feel what they feel, and gauge its response with precision—when to advance and when to retire, whom to groom and whom to avoid, whom to challenge and whom to placate.
E. O. WilsonA clear definition of human nature is the key to understanding the human condition as a whole.
E. O. WilsonMorality, conformity, religious fervor, and fighting ability combined with imagination and memory to produce the winner.
E. O. WilsonA group with members who could read intentions and cooperate among themselves while predicting the action of competing groups, would have an enormous advantage over others less gifted.
E. O. WilsonInnovation of style and metaphor, by its aesthetic surprise, by the lasting pleasure it gives.
E. O. WilsonSerious art, holds and distracts you long enough to lead your mind away through the remainder of its content—perhaps to understand the whole intended meaning. The overall feel of creative work may come at the beginning or at the end.
E. O. WilsonSocial intelligence was therefore always at a high premium. It pays to be socially smart.
E. O. WilsonPeople must have a tribe. It gives them a name in addition to their own and social meaning in a chaotic world. It makes the environment less disorienting and dangerous.
E. O. WilsonThe ideal vantage point is on a rise looking down, a vista of parkland comprising grassland sprinkled with treats and copses, and proximity to a body of water, whether stream, pond, lake, or ocean.
E. O. Wilson
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