Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins FRS FRSLis an English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was the University of Oxford's Professor for Public Understanding of Science from 1995 until 2008...
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth26 March 1941
CityNairobi, Kenya
Richard Dawkins quotes about
atheist this-life
Being an atheist frees you up to live this life properly, happily, and fully.
feelings brain belief
My thoughts, my beliefs, my feelings are all in my brain. My brain is going to rot.
health theory-of-evolution inspire
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.
ideas next excitement
By dislaiming the idea of a next life, we can take more excitement in this one!
children mind vulnerable
Faith can be very very dangerous, and deliberately to implant it into the vulnerable mind of an innocent child is a grievous wrong.
dna care knows
DNA neither cares nor knows. DNA just is. And we dance to its music.
religious thinking glasses
Religion shows a pattern of heredity which I think is similar to genetic heredity. ... There are hundreds of different religious sects, and every religious person is loyal to just one of these. ... The overwhelming majority just happen to choose the one their parents belonged to. Not the sect that has the best evidence in its favour, the best miracles, the best moral code, the best cathedral, the best stained-glass, the best music when it comes to choosing from the smorgasbord of available religions, their potential virtues seem to count for nothing compared to the matter of heredity.
machines genes humans
Human beings are just gene machines.
reality
Science is the poetry of reality.
moon religion atheism
Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings.
running childhood parent
Isn't it a remarkable coincidence almost everyone has the same religion as their parents ? And it always just happens to be the right religion. Religions run in families. If we'd been brought up in ancient Greece we would all be worshiping Zeus and Apollo. If we had been born Vikings we would be worshiping Wotan and Thor. How does this come about ? Through childhood indoctrination.
selfish philosophical thought-provoking
Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish.
together-we-can religion together
Religion: Together we can find the cure.
children thinking teach
Do not indoctrinate your children. Teach them how to think for themselves, how to evaluate evidence, and how to disagree with you.