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To search for unasked questions, plus questions to put to already acquired but unsought answers, it is vital to give full play to the imagination. That is the way to create truly original science.

— E. O. Wilson Letters to a Young Scientist (2013)

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More quotes by E. O. Wilson

The essence of humanity's spiritual dilemma is that we evolved genetically to accept one truth and discovered another.

Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (1998)

If history and science have taught us anything, it is that passion and desire are not the same as truth.

Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (1998)

Much of good science — and perhaps all of great science — has its roots in fantasy.

Letters to a Young Scientist (2013)

To know how scientists engage in visual imagery is to understand how they think creatively.

Letters to a Young Scientist (2013)

The ideal scientist thinks like a poet and only later works like a bookkeeper.

Letters to a Young Scientist (2013)

All E. O. Wilson quotes →

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: E. O. Wilson (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.