Richard Dawkins Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old Richard Dawkins quotes, Richard Dawkins sayings, and Richard Dawkins proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.'

Let our tribute to the dead be a new resolve: to respect people for what they individually think, rather than respect groups for what they were collectively brought up to believe. Richard Dawkins
The fear of Hell is a very powerful motivation. Richard Dawkins
Astrology is an aesthetic affront. It cheapens astronomy, like using Beethoven for commercial jingles. Richard Dawkins
I am agnostic only to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden Richard Dawkins
DNA is ROM. It can be read millions of times over, but only written to once - when it is first assembled the birth of the cell in which it resides. Richard Dawkins
DNA neither cares nor knows. DNA just is. And we dance to its music. Richard Dawkins
We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. Richard Dawkins
I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world. Richard Dawkins
Being an atheist frees you up to live this life properly, happily, and fully. Richard Dawkins
Islands are natural workshops of evolution. Richard Dawkins
It often turns out on closer inspection that acts of apparent altruism are really selfishness in disguise. Richard Dawkins
There is another kind of altruism that seems to go beyond that, a kind of super-altruism, which humans appear to have. And I think that does need a Darwinian explanation. Richard Dawkins
Evil is a miscellaneous collection of nasty things that nasty people do. Richard Dawkins
Anybody who has something sensible or worthwhile to say should be able to say it calmly and soberly, relying on the words themselves to convey his meaning, without resorting to yelling. Richard Dawkins
Some people find clarity threatening. They like muddle, confusion, obscurity. So when somebody does no more than speak clearly it sounds threatening. Richard Dawkins
If you listen to two people who are arguing about something, and they each of them have passionate faith that they're right, but they believe different things—they belong to different religions, different faiths, there is nothing they can do to settle their disagreement short of shooting each other, which is what they very often actually do. Richard Dawkins
The idea of tiny changes cumulated over many steps is an immensely powerful idea, capable of explaining an enormous range of things that would be otherwise inexplicable. Richard Dawkins
The very idea that we get a moral compass from religion is horrible. Not only should we not get our moral compass from religion, as a matter of fact we don't. Richard Dawkins
If something is true, no amount of wishful thinking will change it. Richard Dawkins
As my colleague, the physical chemist Peter Atkins, puts it, we must be equally agnostic about the theory that there is a teapot in orbrit around the planet Pluto. We can't disprove it. But that doesn't mean the theory that there is a teapot is on level terms with the theory that there isn't. Richard Dawkins
Every night of our lives, we dream, and our brain concocts visions which are, at least until we wake up, highly convincing. Most of us have had experiences which are verging on hallucination. It shows the power of the brain to knock up illusions. Richard Dawkins
The deceitful misquoting of scientists to suit an anti-scientific agenda ranks among the many unchristian habits of fundamentalist authors. 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
It doesn't hurt my feelings when I get vilified by fundamentalist. I've actually made comedy out of it. I've made light of that. 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 selfish gene. They are in you and in me; they created us, body and mind; and their preservation is the ultimate rationale for our existence... they go by the name of genes, and we are their survival machines. Richard Dawkins
Brains function on a need-to-know basis, and the need-to-know in order to survive on the African plains as hunter-gatherers. It's pure bonus if we manage to understand a bit about relativity and quantum theory as well. I think it's a tremendous privilege that we can understand as much as we can. Richard Dawkins
There are risks in the sheer brevity of Twitter, and it's actually quite an elegant art reducing what you have to say to 140 characters, and it's something that I quite enjoy attempting to do. Richard Dawkins
Even if you believe a creator god invented the laws of physics, would you so insult him as to suggest that he might capriciously and arbitrarily violate them in order to walk on water, or turn water into wine as a cheap party trick at a wedding? Richard Dawkins
You can't even begin to understand biology, you can't understand life, unless you understand what it's all there for, how it arose - and that means evolution. Richard Dawkins