Richard Dawkins, a prominent figure in the realm of evolutionary biology and atheism, is renowned for his eloquent articulation of scientific concepts and staunch defense of rationalism. As an evolutionary biologist, Dawkins has delved deep into the intricate mechanisms of natural selection, shedding light on the fascinating journey of life on Earth. Beyond his scientific endeavors, Dawkins is also recognized for his unyielding advocacy for secularism and skepticism, challenging religious dogma and promoting critical thinking.
Throughout his career, Dawkins has penned numerous books that have captivated audiences worldwide, from The Selfish Gene to The God Delusion. In these works, he fearlessly confronts contentious topics, sparking debates and encouraging readers to question the status quo. With his sharp wit and incisive commentary, Dawkins has carved out a unique space in the intellectual landscape, inspiring countless individuals to explore the wonders of science and embrace a rational worldview. Below, you’ll find a collection of thought-provoking Richard Dawkins quotes that encapsulate his distinctive perspective on life, evolution, religion, and reason.
Saddam Hussein could have provided irreplaceable help to future historians of the Iran/Iraq war, of the invasion of Kuwait, and of the subsequent era of sanctions culminating in the current invasion. Richard Dawkins
God exists, if only in the form of a meme with high survival value, or infective power, in the environment provided by human culture. Richard Dawkins
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. Richard Dawkins
I suppose I’m a cultural Anglican, and I see evensong in a country church through much the same eyes as I see a village cricket match on the village green. I have a certain love for it. Richard Dawkins
What has ‘theology’ ever said that is of the smallest use to anybody? When has ‘theology’ ever said anything that is demonstrably true and is not obvious? What makes you think that ‘theology’ is a subject at all? Richard Dawkins
If something is true, no amount of wishful thinking will change it. Richard Dawkins
There are many very educated people who are religious, but they’re not creationists. Richard Dawkins
A delusion is something that people believe in despite a total lack of evidence. Richard Dawkins
Far from being demeaning to human spiritual values, scientific rationalism is the crowning glory of the human spirit. Richard Dawkins
Science has taught us, against all intuition, that apparently solid things like crystals and rocks are really almost entirely composed of empty space. And the familiar illustration is the nucleus of an atom is a fly in the middle of a sports stadium, and the next atom is in the next sports stadium. Richard Dawkins
Religion is capable of driving people to such dangerous folly that faith seems to me to qualify as a kind of mental illness. 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 love romantic poetry. 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
Intelligent life on a planet comes of age when it first works out the reason for its own existence. Richard Dawkins
The solution often turns out more beautiful than the puzzle. Richard Dawkins
My interest in biology was pretty much always on the philosophical side. Richard Dawkins
The reason we personify things like cars and computers is that just as monkeys live in an arboreal world and moles live in an underground world and water striders live in a surface tension-dominated flatland, we live in a social world. Richard Dawkins
People believe the only alternative to randomness is intelligent design. Richard Dawkins
Many people want to send their children to faith schools because they get good exam results, but they’re not foolish enough to believe that it’s because of faith that they get good exam results. Richard Dawkins
It’s very likely that most mammals have consciousness, and probably birds, too. Richard Dawkins
I do sometimes accuse people of ignorance, but that is not intended to be an insult. I’m ignorant of lots of things. Ignorance is something that can be remedied by education. Richard Dawkins
Something pretty mysterious had to give rise to the origin of the universe. Richard Dawkins
We are a unique ape. We have language. Other animals have systems of communication that fall far short of that. They don’t have the same ability to communicate complicated conditionals and what-ifs and talk about things that are not present. Richard Dawkins
I’m fond of science fiction. But not all science fiction. I like science fiction where there’s a scientific lesson, for example – when the science fiction book changes one thing but leaves the rest of science intact and explores the consequences of that. That’s actually very valuable. Richard Dawkins
The whole idea of creating saints, it’s pure ‘Monty Python.’ They have to clock up two miracles. Richard Dawkins
Isn’t it sad to go to your grave without ever wondering why you were born? Who, with such a thought, would not spring from bed, eager to resume discovering the world and rejoicing to be part of it? Richard Dawkins
I have often said that I am a passionate Darwinian when it comes to explaining why we exist. Richard Dawkins
All the fossils that we have ever found have always been found in the appropriate place in the time sequence. There are no fossils in the wrong place. Richard Dawkins
Words are not trivial. They matter because they raise consciousness. Richard Dawkins
God stands out in the universe as the most glaring of all superfluous sore thumbs. Richard Dawkins
There are quite a lot of YouTube clips of me that have gone viral. One that I think of is of a young woman at a lecture I was giving – she came from Liberty University, which is a ludicrous religious institution. She said, ‘What if you are wrong?’ and I answered that rather briefly, and that’s gone viral. Richard Dawkins
I accept that there may be things far grander and more incomprehensible than we can possibly imagine. Richard Dawkins
When the ancestors of the cheetah first began pursuing the ancestors of the gazelle, neither of them could run as fast as they can today. Richard Dawkins
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. Richard Dawkins
An Internet meme is a hijacking of the original idea. Instead of mutating by random change and spreading by a form of Darwinian selection, Internet memes are altered deliberately by human creativity. There is no attempt at accuracy of copying, as with genes – and as with memes in their original version. Richard Dawkins
I detest ‘Jingle Bells,’ ‘White Christmas,’ ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,’ and the obscene spending bonanza that nowadays seems to occupy not just December, but November and much of October, too. Richard Dawkins
Personally, I rather look forward to a computer program winning the world chess championship. Humanity needs a lesson in humility. Richard Dawkins
Biology is the study of complicated things that have the appearance of having been designed with a purpose. Richard Dawkins
The fact that life evolved out of nearly nothing, some 10 billion years after the universe evolved out of literally nothing, is a fact so staggering that I would be mad to attempt words to do it justice. Richard Dawkins
I’m fascinated by the idea that genetics is digital. A gene is a long sequence of coded letters, like computer information. Modern biology is becoming very much a branch of information technology. Richard Dawkins
A good scientific theory is one which is falsifiable, which has not been falsified. Richard Dawkins
I like to think ‘The God Delusion’ is a humorous book. I think, actually, it’s full of laughs. And people who describe it as a polarizing book or as an aggressive book, it’s just that very often they haven’t read it. Richard Dawkins
Today the theory of evolution is about as much open to doubt as the theory that the earth goes round the sun. Richard Dawkins
Religion is about turning untested belief into unshakable truth through the power of institutions and the passage of time. Richard Dawkins
If there is a God, it’s going to be a whole lot bigger and a whole lot more incomprehensible than anything that any theologian of any religion has ever proposed. Richard Dawkins
I think the written word is probably the best medium of communication because you have time to reflect, you have time to choose your words, to get your sentences exactly right. Whereas when you’re being interviewed, say, you have to talk on the fly, you have to improvise, you can change sentences around, and they’re not exactly right. Richard Dawkins
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. Richard Dawkins
It’s a horrible idea that God, this paragon of wisdom and knowledge, power, couldn’t think of a better way to forgive us our sins than to come down to Earth in his alter ego as his son and have himself hideously tortured and executed so that he could forgive himself. Richard Dawkins
Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish. Richard Dawkins
Of course, we would love to know more about the exact moment of Big Bang, but interposing an outside intelligence does nothing to add to that knowledge, as we still know nothing about the creation of that intelligence. Richard Dawkins
At the deepest level, all living things that have ever been looked at have the same DNA code. And many of the same genes. Richard Dawkins
Metaphors are fine if they aid understanding, but sometimes they get in the way. Richard Dawkins
We have the power to turn against our creators. Richard Dawkins
Presumably what happened to Jesus was what happens to all of us when we die. We decompose. Accounts of Jesus’s resurrection and ascension are about as well-documented as Jack and the Beanstalk. Richard Dawkins
Genome sequencing has changed taxonomy. Richard Dawkins
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. 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
I don’t do formal debates, because formal debates where you have two people up on a stage in equal status, and each of them is given 20 minutes to give their point of view, and then 10 minutes for a rebuttal, or whatever, that creates the illusion that you really do have here two equal points of view of equal scientific standing. 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
The state of Israel seems to owe its very existence to the American Jewish vote, while at the same time consigning the non-religious to political oblivion. Richard Dawkins
The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. Richard Dawkins
Don’t feel embarrassed if you’ve never heard of William Lane Craig. He parades himself as a philosopher, but none of the professors of philosophy whom I consulted had heard his name, either. Richard Dawkins
Darwin gives courage to the rest of science that we shall end up understanding literally everything, springing from almost nothing – a thought extremely hard to comprehend and believe. Richard Dawkins
I am very comfortable with the idea that we can override biology with free will. Richard Dawkins
Astrology is an aesthetic affront. It cheapens astronomy, like using Beethoven for commercial jingles. Richard Dawkins
What’s wrong with being elitist if you are trying to encourage people to join the elite rather than being exclusive? Richard Dawkins
The interesting question would be whether there’s a Darwinian process, a kind of selection process whereby some memes are more likely to spread than others, because people like them, because they’re popular, because they’re catchy or whatever it might be. Richard Dawkins
The meme for blind faith secures its own perpetuation by the simple unconscious expedient of discouraging rational inquiry. Richard Dawkins
The universe doesn’t owe us condolence or consolation; it doesn’t owe us a nice warm feeling inside. Richard Dawkins
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
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. Richard Dawkins
Religious fanatics want people to switch off their own minds, ignore the evidence, and blindly follow a holy book based upon private ‘revelation’. Richard Dawkins
Many of us saw religion as harmless nonsense. Beliefs might lack all supporting evidence but, we thought, if people needed a crutch for consolation, where’s the harm? September 11th changed all that. Richard Dawkins
I don’t feel depressed. I feel elated. Richard Dawkins
If saying that religion should be a private matter and should not have special influence in public life is illiberal, then 74% of U.K. Christians are illiberal, too. Richard Dawkins
Einstein was adamant in rejecting all ideas of a personal god. Richard Dawkins
How any government could promote the Vardy academies in the North-East of England is absolutely beyond me. Tony Blair defends them on grounds of diversity, but it should be unthinkable in the 21st century to have a school whose head of science believes the world is less than 10,000 years old. Richard Dawkins
Why are we so obsessed with monogamous fidelity? Richard Dawkins
I certainly would absolutely never do what some of my American colleagues do and object to religious symbols being used, putting crosses up in the public square and things like that. I don’t fret about that at all; I’m quite happy about that. Richard Dawkins
The psychologist Elizabeth Loftus has shown great courage, in the face of spiteful vested interests, in demonstrating how easy it is for people to concoct memories that are entirely false but which seem, to the victim, every bit as real as true memories. Richard Dawkins
To fill a world with religion, or religions of the Abrahamic kind, is like littering the streets with loaded guns. Do not be surprised if they are used. Richard Dawkins
I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world. Richard Dawkins
The enlightenment is under threat. So is reason. So is truth. So is science, especially in the schools of America. 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
I would like to find a way in which people in Saudi Arabia could learn that they can be something other than a Muslim. Some people may not realize this. Of course, there is the problem that you can get in trouble or get stoned. 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
Public sharing is an important part of science. Richard Dawkins
We should take astrology seriously. No, I don’t mean we should believe in it. I am talking about fighting it seriously instead of humouring it as a piece of harmless fun. Richard Dawkins
The Bible should be taught, but emphatically not as reality. It is fiction, myth, poetry, anything but reality. As such it needs to be taught because it underlies so much of our literature and our culture. Richard Dawkins
Scientists disagree among themselves but they never fight over their disagreements. They argue about evidence or go out and seek new evidence. Much the same is true of philosophers, historians and literary critics. Richard Dawkins
We cannot, of course, disprove God, just as we can’t disprove Thor, fairies, leprechauns and the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Richard Dawkins
Don’t kid yourself that you’re going to live again after you’re dead; you’re not. Make the most of the one life you’ve got. Live it to the full. 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. Richard Dawkins
I mean I think that when you’ve got a big brain, when you find yourself planted in a world with a brain big enough to understand quite a lot of what you see around you, but not everything, you naturally fall to thinking about the deep mysteries. Where do we come from? Where does the world come from? Where does the universe come from? Richard Dawkins
Beauty arises out of human inspiration. Richard Dawkins
Islands are natural workshops of evolution. Richard Dawkins
Natural selection will not remove ignorance from future generations. Richard Dawkins
The chances of each of us coming into existence are infinitesimally small, and even though we shall all die some day, we should count ourselves fantastically lucky to get our decades in the sun. Richard Dawkins
Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence. Richard Dawkins
