Almost everything we do is automatic, yet we're not aware of that. We feel like there's a circle of light. We're like the drunk who lost his keys and is looking under the streetlight, and the cop says, "Where'd you lose your keys?" You say, "Back in the alley, but the light's so much better over here." The divided self refers to the fact that we are basically animals with animal brains. These animal brains run our lives. They're very good at it.

I got interested in the American culture war back in 2004, and it's one of the only growth stocks I've ever invested in.

Most of our social nature is like that of other primates - we're mostly out for ourselves.

Happiness doesn't come from getting what you want. It doesn't come from within, either. Happiness comes from *between*--from finding the right relationship between yourself and others, between yourself and your work, and between yourself and something larger than yourself.

The word religion literally means, in Latin, to link or bind together; and despite the vast variation in the world's religions, Wilson shows that religions always serve to coordinate and orient people's behavior toward each other and toward the group as a whole, sometimes for the purpose of competing with other groups.

Empathy is an antidote to righteousness, although it's very difficult to empathize across a moral divide

The extreme self-sacrifice characteristic of group-selected species such as ants and bees can often be found among soldiers.