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

I tend to believe that religious dogma is a consequence of evolution.

Secular humanists can sit around and talk about their love of humanity, but it doesn't stack up against a two-millennium-old funeral high mass.

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 had reached a point in my career in which I was ready to try something new in my writing, and the idea of a novel has always been in the back of my mind.

It's always been a dream of mine, of exploring the living world, of classifying all the species and finding out what makes up the biosphere.

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.