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Richard Dawkins Quotes - Page 5

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‎Matter flows from place to place, and momentarily comes together to be you. Some people find that thought disturbing; I find the reality thrilling.

‎"Matter flows from place to place, and momentarily comes together to be you. Some people find that thought disturbing; I find the reality thrilling.

Richard Dawkins
Reality, People, Religion

'Take offense at the drop of a hat' is the unwritten eleventh commandment.

Richard Dawkins
Doubt, Atheism, Hats

Religious people split into three main groups when faced with science. I shall label them the "know-nothings", the "know-alls", and the "no-contests."

Richard Dawkins
Religious, Knowledge, People

There is great variation in brain power all the way from Einstien on one hand to Sarah Palin on the other.

Richard Dawkins
Hands, Brain, Variation

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
Believe, Two, People

My thoughts, my beliefs, my feelings are all in my brain. My brain is going to rot.

Richard Dawkins
Feelings, Brain, Belief

There is no such thing as a Christian child: only a child of Christian parents.

Richard Dawkins
Christian, Children, Parent
Richard Dawkins (2008). “The God Delusion”, p.18, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation forthe existence and apparently purposeful form of all life, has no purpose in mind. It has no mind and no mind's eye. It does not plan for the future. It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of the watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker.

Richard Dawkins
Selfish, Eye, Sight
The Blind Watchmaker ch. 1 (1986) See Paley 3

Faith is an evil precisely because it requires no justification and brooks no argument.

Richard Dawkins
Evil, Religion, Atheism
Richard Dawkins (2008). “The God Delusion”, p.347, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

It's an important point to realize that the genetic programming of our lives is not fully deterministic. It is statistical - it is in any animal merely statistical - not deterministic.

Richard Dawkins
Animal, Important, Realizing

Yes, testosterone-sodden young men too unattractive to get a woman in this world might be desperate enough to go for 72 private virgins in the next.

Richard Dawkins
Men, Atheism, World
"Religion's misguided missiles" by Richard Dawkins, www.theguardian.com. September 11, 2001.

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
Thinking, Important, Answers
"God vs. Science". Interview with David Van Biema, content.time.com. November 5, 2006.

Science tells us what we have reason to believe. Not what we have a duty to believe. Not what experts, in their pontificating wisdom, instruct us to believe... No, science tells us what there is good reason to believe.

Richard Dawkins
Believe, Experts, Reason

You can never be absolutely certain that anything doesn't exist. But you can show that it's unlikely.

Richard Dawkins
Unlikely, Certain, Shows
The Hugh Hewitt Show, www.hughhewitt.com. October 20, 2009.

It is possible in medicine, even when you intend to do good, to do harm instead. That is why science thrives on actively encouraging criticism rather than stifling it.

Richard Dawkins
Medicine, Criticism, Harm
"Libel laws silence scientists" by Richard Dawkins, www.theguardian.com. September 21, 2009.

It's about time we start criticizing faith.

Richard Dawkins
Criticize

Religion teaches you to be satisfied with nonanswers. It’s a sort of crime against childhood.

Richard Dawkins
Childhood, Crime, Teach

I think the important thing to learn is that we can retain a sentimental loyalty to the cultural and literary traditions of, say, Judaism, Anglicanism or Islam, and even participate in religious rituals such as marriages and funerals, without buying into the supernatural beliefs that historically went along with those traditions. We can give up belief in God while not losing touch with a treasured heritage.

Richard Dawkins
Loyalty, Religious, Business

The feeling of awed wonder that science can give us is one of the highest experiences of which the human psyche is capable. It is a deep aesthetic passion to rank with the finest that music and poetry can deliver. It is truly one of the things that make life worth living and it does so, if anything, more effectively if it convinces us that the time we have for living is quite finite.

Richard Dawkins
Passion, Convince Us, Awe And Wonder
Richard Dawkins (2000). “Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder”, p.10, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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

Richard Dawkins
Business, Believe, Power
"The Root of All Evil?". Documentary, January 2006.

The book is true, and if evidence seems to condtradict it, it is the evidence that must be thrown out not the book.

Richard Dawkins
Book, Evidence, Thrown

Faith is powerful enough to immunize people against all appeals to pity, to forgiveness, to decent human feelings. It even immunizes them against fear, if they honestly believe that a martyr's death will send them straight to heaven.

Richard Dawkins
Powerful, Believe, People

The popularity of the paranormal, oddly enough, might even be grounds for encouragement. I think that the appetite for mystery, the enthusiasm for that which we do not understand, is healthy and to be fostered. It is the same appetite which drives the best of true science, and it is an appetite which true science is best qualified to satisfy.

Richard Dawkins
Encouragement, Thinking, Healthy
"Science, Delusion, and the Appetite for Wonder". Richard Dimbleby Lecture on BBC1 Television, www.edge.org. November 12, 1996.

It is a virtue to admit ignorance when you don't know, but not to wallow in ignorance as an end in itself. People say if we don't believe god is watching over us, we abandon morality. Are they right?

Richard Dawkins
Believe, Ignorance, People

Intelligent life on a planet comes of age when it first works out the reason for its own existence.

Richard Dawkins
Life, Birthday, Intelligent
Richard Dawkins (2006). “The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary edition”, p.30, OUP Oxford