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.

What we need is an electronic encyclopedia of life, with one page for each species. On each page is given everything known about that species.

The growth of a naturalist is like the growth of a musician or athlete: excellence for the talented, lifelong enjoyment for the rest, benefit for humanity.

Somewhere close I knew spear-nosed bats flew through the tree crowns in search of fruit, palm vipers coiled in ambush in the roots of orchids, jaguars walked the river's edge; around them eight hundred species of trees stood, more than are native to all of North America; and a thousand species of butterflies, 6 percent of the entire world fauna, waited for the dawn.

Even as empiricism is winning the mind, transcendentalism continues to win the heart.

To the extent that philosophical positions both confuse us and close doors to further inquiry, they are likely to be wrong.

Our brain is mapping the world. Often that map is distorted, but it's a map with constant immediate sensory input.