We accept that people are irrational for good Darwinian reasons. But I don't think we should be so pessimistic as to think that therefore we're forever condemned to be irrational. Richard Dawkins More Quotes by Richard Dawkins More Quotes From Richard Dawkins My personal feeling is that understanding evolution led me to atheism. Richard Dawkins atheismunderstandingfeelings [Creationists have] lost in the courts of law; they've long ago lost in the halls of science; and they continue to lose with every new piece of evidence in support of evolution. Taking offense is all they've got left. Richard Dawkins long-agosupportlaw I think from my point of view - I won't say it doesn't matter whether [Darwinian explanations] are right or wrong, it's just sufficient in some cases, for me, to be able to say, Well, at least it's not totally implausible from a Darwinian point of view. Richard Dawkins matterviewsthinking [Alternative medicine is defined as] that set of practices that cannot be tested, refuse to be tested or consistently fail tests. Richard Dawkins medicinealternativespractice The only watchmaker is the blind forces of physics. Richard Dawkins forcephysicsblind You can never be absolutely certain that anything doesn't exist. But you can show that it's unlikely. Richard Dawkins unlikelycertainshows The feeling of awed wonder that science can give us is one of the highest experiences of which the human psyche is capable. Richard Dawkins awe-and-wonderfeelingsgiving 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 if-there-is-a-godatheistreligious Pantheism is sexed-up atheism. Deism is watered-down theism. Richard Dawkins pantheismdeismatheism Evolution is a theory in a special philosophical sense of science, but in terms of ordinary laymen's use of language, it's a fact, .. Evolution is a fact in the same sense that it's a fact that the Earth is round and not flat, [that] the Earth goes round the Sun. Both those are also theories, but they're theories that have never been disproved and never will be disproved. Richard Dawkins philosophicalspecialsun 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 luckychancesun I am not absolutely positive there is no god. Only in the sense that I'm not absolutely positive there is no large china teapot in orbit in the solar system. Richard Dawkins teapotsorbitchina ...I am not attacking any particular God or gods. I am attacking God, all gods, anything and everything supernatural, whenever or wherever they have been or will be invented. Richard Dawkins attackinganything-and-everythingparticular Religion is the root of quite a lot of evil. Richard Dawkins rootsevilreligion Religion has been a powerful weapon in the hands of governments, in the hands of priests, in the hands of kings who have used it as a weapon to keep down the populace. It is a wonderful way of disciplining people and making them do what you want, to tell them that if they don't do what you want they will, for example, go to Hell. Richard Dawkins governmentpowerfulkings To me, the right approach is to say we are profoundly ignorant of these matters. We need to work on them. But to suddenly say the answer is God - it's that that seems to me to close off the discussion. Richard Dawkins ignorantanswersneeds My thoughts, my beliefs, my feelings are all in my brain. My brain is going to rot. Richard Dawkins beliefbrainfeelings Why did God make tigers so good at catching prey, and at the same time make prey so good at getting away from tigers? You'd think that if God wanted one thing or the other to happen he'd have engineered it rather better. Maybe he enjoyed the spectator sport? Richard Dawkins preysportsthinking 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 doeneedsthinking Alister McGrath has now written two books with my name in the title. The poet W. B. Yeats, when asked to say something about bad poets who made a living by parasitizing him, wrote the splendid line, 'was there ever dog that praised his fleas? Richard Dawkins dogtwobook
