“If those committed to the quest fail, they will be forgiven. When lost, they will find another way. The moral imperative of humanism is the endeavor alone, whether successful or not, provided the effort is honorable and failure memorable.”

“Individual versus group selection results in a mix of altruism and selfishness, of virtue and sin, among the members of a society.”

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

“If we were to wipe out insects alone on this planet, the rest of life and humanity with it would mostly disappear from the land. Within a few months.”

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

“For me, the peculiar qualities of faith are a logical outcome of this level of biological organization.”

“By any reasonable measure of achievement, the faith of the Enlightenment thinkers in science was justified.”

“The essence of humanity's spiritual dilemma is that we evolved genetically to accept one truth and discovered another. Is there a way to erase the dilemma, to resolve the contradictions between the transcendentalist and the empiricist world views?”

“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.”

“Science and religion are the two most powerful forces in the world. Having them at odds... is not productive.”

“Every major religion today is a winner in the Darwinian struggle waged among cultures, and none ever flourished by tolerating its rivals.”