Richard DawkinsIt is all too easy to mistake passion that can change its mind for fundamentalism, which never will. ✨ Richard Dawkins (2008). The God Delusion, p.18, Houghton Mifflin Harco… ▶371LoveThought
Richard DawkinsOr why it is acceptable to train fast runners and high jumpers but not to breed them. I can think of some answers, and they are good ones, which would probably end up persuading m… ▶371ThoughtTime
Richard DawkinsReligions do make claims about the universe--the same kinds of claims that scientists make, except they're usually false.372Truth
Richard DawkinsThe history of science has been one long series of violent brainstorms, as successive generations have come to terms with increasing levels of queerness in the universe.372Thought
Richard DawkinsI do think the Roman Catholic religion is a disease of the mind which has a particular epidemiology similar to that of a virus... Religion is a terrific meme. That's right. But th… ▶351ThoughtTruth
Richard DawkinsIt is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, mad cow disease, and many others, but I think a case can be made that faith is one of th… ▶362HopeHumanityThought
Richard DawkinsI am agnostic only to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden ✨ Richard Dawkins (2008). The God Delusion, p.74, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt373Time
Richard DawkinsOur brains have evolved to help us survive within the orders of magnitude of size and speed which our bodies operate at. We never evolved to navigate in the world of atoms.351DeathThought
Richard DawkinsAmerican political opportunities are loaded against those who are simultaneously intelligent and honest. ✨ Militant atheism. TED2002, www.ted.com. 2002.362PoliticsTruth
Richard DawkinsI mean it as a compliment when I say that you could almost define a philosopher as someone who won't take common sense for an answer. ✨ Richard Dawkins (2008). The God Delus… ▶362Humor
Richard DawkinsSometimes I think it's possible to mistake desire for clarity and talking in a no-nonsense way for aggression. ✨ Darwin's child. Interview with Simon Hattenstone, www.t… ▶373ThoughtTime
Richard DawkinsA universe with a God would look quite different from a universe without one. A physics, a biology where there is a God is bound to look different. So the most basic claims of rel… ▶373Truth
Richard DawkinsFaith is one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate. ✨ Is Science a Religion?. Humanist, www.skeptical-science.com. January/Feb… ▶374HopeHumanity
Richard DawkinsI am very hostile to religion because it is enormously dominant, especially in American life. And I don't buy the argument that, well, it's harmless. I think it is harmful, partly… ▶341LifeLoveThought
Richard DawkinsScientific and technological progress themselves are value-neutral. They are just very good at doing what they do. If you want to do selfish, greedy, intolerant and violent things… ▶363HopeTime
Richard DawkinsBe thankful that you have a life, and forsake your vain and presumptuous desire for a second one.352Life
Richard DawkinsThe cynic about human nature might say that religious morality is an effective way of keeping people in line. The threat of hell, the reward of heaven, but the rules of the holy b… ▶352HumanityReading
Richard DawkinsQuantum mechanics, that brilliantly successful flagship theory of modern science, is deeply mysterious and hard to understand. Eastern mystics have always been deeply mysterious a… ▶363HopeLoveReflection
Richard DawkinsWhen I am dying, I should like my life taken out under general anaesthetic, exactly as if it were a diseased appendix. ✨ Richard Dawkins (2008). The God Delusion, p.400, Hou… ▶352DeathLife
Richard DawkinsThe trouble with conspiracies, even those that are to everybody's advantage in the long run, is that they are open to abuse. If manipulators really had the powers claimed, they co… ▶331PoliticsReading
Richard DawkinsWe, alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators. ✨ Richard Dawkins (2016). The Selfish Gene: 40th Anniversary edition, p.221, Oxford University … ▶342Reading
Richard DawkinsWe should learn to understand natural selection, so that we can oppose any tendency to apply it to human politics.364HumanityPolitics
Richard DawkinsIt is raining DNA outside. On the bank of the Oxford canal at the bottom of my garden is a large willow tree, and it is pumping downy seeds into the air. ... spreading DNA whose c… ▶364ReadingTruth
Richard DawkinsLuke [the gospel writer] screws up his dating by tactlessly mentioning events that historians are capable of independently checking. There was indeed a census under Governor Quiri… ▶342Death
Richard DawkinsBeing dead will be no different from being unborn -- I shall be just as I was in the time of William the Conqueror or the dinosaurs or the trilobites. There is nothing to fear in … ▶331DeathTime
Richard DawkinsThe 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.… ▶342ThoughtTime
Richard DawkinsThere is economics in biology, nothing is free, everything has to be paid for, there are costs as well as benefits to everything in life, for example, there was never sufficient n… ▶354LifeTime
Richard DawkinsThe river of my title is a river of DNA, a river of information, not a river of bones and tissues ✨ Richard Dawkins (1995). River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life, Basi… ▶376LifeReading
Richard DawkinsDiscrimination is not liberal. Arguing against discrimination is not intolerance. ✨ What is the proper place for religion in Britain's public life? by Will Hutton, Rich… ▶376Life
Richard DawkinsI have no explanation for complex biological design. All I know is that God isn't a good explanation, so we must wait and hope that somebody comes up with a better one. ✨ Ri… ▶343Hope
