Quotes

“If children understand that beliefs should be substantiated with evidence, as opposed to tradition, authority, revelation or faith, they will automatically work out for themselves that they are atheists.” Richard Dawkins

“We humans are an extremely important manifestation of the replication bomb, because it is through us - through our brains, our symbolic culture and our technology - that the explosion may proceed to the next stage and reverberate through deep space.” Richard Dawkins

“Religion is about turning untested belief into unshakable truth through the power of institutions and the passage of time.” Richard Dawkins

“Today the theory of evolution is about as much open to doubt as the theory that the earth goes round the sun.” Richard Dawkins

“The Bible should be taught, but emphatically not as reality. It is fiction, myth, poetry, anything but reality. As such it needs to be taught because it underlies so much of our literature and our culture.” Richard Dawkins

“I am one of those scientists who feels that it is no longer enough just to get on and do science. We have to devote a significant proportion of our time and resources to defending it from deliberate attack from organised ignorance.” Richard Dawkins

“For the first half of geological time our ancestors were bacteria. Most creatures still are bacteria, and each one of our trillions of cells is a colony of bacteria.” Richard Dawkins

“Personally, I rather look forward to a computer program winning the world chess championship. Humanity needs a lesson in humility.” Richard Dawkins

“The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.” Richard Dawkins

“My personal feeling is that understanding evolution led me to atheism.” Richard Dawkins

“Religious fanatics want people to switch off their own minds, ignore the evidence, and blindly follow a holy book based upon private 'revelation'.” Richard Dawkins

“Nothing is wrong with peace and love. It is all the more regrettable that so many of Christ's followers seem to disagree.” Richard Dawkins

“The enlightenment is under threat. So is reason. So is truth. So is science, especially in the schools of America.” Richard Dawkins

“The theory of evolution by cumulative natural selection is the only theory we know of that is in principle capable of explaining the existence of organized complexity.” Richard Dawkins

“The fact that life evolved out of nearly nothing, some 10 billion years after the universe evolved out of literally nothing, is a fact so staggering that I would be mad to attempt words to do it justice.” Richard Dawkins

“Complex, statistically improbable things are by their nature more difficult to explain than simple, statistically probable things.” Richard Dawkins

“I suppose if you look back to your early childhood you accept everything people tell you, and that includes a heavy dose of irrationality - you're told about tooth fairies and Father Christmas and things.” Richard Dawkins

“When I say that human beings are just gene machines, one shouldn't put too much emphasis on the word 'just.' There is a very great deal of complication, and indeed beauty in being a gene machine.” Richard Dawkins

“I love romantic poetry.” Richard Dawkins

“The idea of an afterlife where you can be reunited with loved ones can be immensely consoling - though not to me.” Richard Dawkins

“The universe doesn't owe us condolence or consolation; it doesn't owe us a nice warm feeling inside.” Richard Dawkins

“We are a very, very unusual species.” Richard Dawkins

“If ever there was a slamming of the door in the face of constructive investigation, it is the word miracle. To a medieval peasant, a radio would have seemed like a miracle.” Richard Dawkins

“The question of whether there exists a supernatural creator, a God, is one of the most important that we have to answer. I think that it is a scientific question. My answer is no.” Richard Dawkins

“I do disapprove very strongly of labelling children, especially young children, as something like 'Catholic children' or 'Protestant children' or 'Islamic children.'” Richard Dawkins

“I once wrote that anybody who believes the world is only 6,000 years old is either ignorant, stupid, insane or wicked.” Richard Dawkins

“I accept that there may be things far grander and more incomprehensible than we can possibly imagine.” Richard Dawkins

“Natural selection is anything but random.” Richard Dawkins

“What has 'theology' ever said that is of the smallest use to anybody? When has 'theology' ever said anything that is demonstrably true and is not obvious? What makes you think that 'theology' is a subject at all?” Richard Dawkins

“Design can never be an ultimate explanation for anything. It can only be a proximate explanation. A plane or a car is explained by a designer but that's because the designer himself, the engineer, is explained by natural selection.” Richard Dawkins