“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.”
Faith
“Intelligent life on a planet comes of age when it first works out the reason for its own existence.”
AgeAll Quotes by Richard Dawkins
“It has become almost a cliche to remark that nobody boasts of ignorance of literature, but it is socially acceptable to boast ignorance of science and proudly claim incompetence in mathematics.”
Science“There may be fairies at the bottom of the garden. There is no evidence for it, but you can't prove that there aren't any, so shouldn't we be agnostic with respect to fairies?”
Respect“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.”
Beauty“Segregation has no place in the education system.”
Education“I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.”
Religion“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.”
God“God exists, if only in the form of a meme with high survival value, or infective power, in the environment provided by human culture.”
God“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.”
Christmas“The enlightenment is under threat. So is reason. So is truth. So is science, especially in the schools of America.”
Science“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.”
Technology“One of the things that is wrong with religion is that it teaches us to be satisfied with answers which are not really answers at all.”
Religion“Evolution never looks to the future.”
Future“A 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 religion are scientific. Religion is a scientific theory.”
God“I love romantic poetry.”
Poetry“Complex, statistically improbable things are by their nature more difficult to explain than simple, statistically probable things.”
Nature“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.”
Car“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.”
Time“The meme for blind faith secures its own perpetuation by the simple unconscious expedient of discouraging rational inquiry.”
Faith“Nothing is wrong with peace and love. It is all the more regrettable that so many of Christ's followers seem to disagree.”
Peace