The love of complexity without reductionism makes art; the love of complexity with reductionism makes science.

No barrier stands between the material world of science and the sensibilities of the hunter and the poet.

This is the assembly of life that took a billion years to evolve. It has eaten the storms - folded them into its genes - and created the world that created us. It holds the world steady.

There can be no purpose more enspiriting than to begin the age of restoration, reweaving the wondrous diversity of life that still surrounds us.

Without a trace of irony I can say I have been blessed with brilliant enemies. I owe them a great debt, because they redoubled my energies and drove me in new directions.

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

So important are insects and other land-dwelling arthropods that if all were to disappear, humanity probably could not last more than a few months.