Quotes by Richard Dawkins

About Richard Dawkins:

Clinton Richard Dawkins is an English ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and writer. 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.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

It is immoral to brand children with religion. 'This is a Catholic child.' 'That is a Muslim child.' I want everyone to flinch when they hear such a phrase, just as they would if they heard, 'That is a Marxist child.'

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

We've all been brought up with the view that religion has some kind of special privileged status. You're not allowed to criticise it.

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

It would be intolerant if I advocated the banning of religion, but of course I never have.

Richard Dawkins

Disagreements between incompatible beliefs cannot be settled by reasoned argument because reasoned argument is drummed out of those trained in religion from the cradle.

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

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

Richard Dawkins

I get the feeling more and more that religion is being left behind.

Richard Dawkins

People really, really hate their religion being criticized. It's as though you've said they had an ugly face; they seem to identify personally with it.

Richard Dawkins

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?

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

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,...

Richard Dawkins

I am one of those scientists who feels that it is no longer enough just to get on and do science. We have to devote a significant proportion of our time and resources to defending it from deliberate attack from organised ignorance.

Richard Dawkins

The enlightenment is under threat. So is reason. So is truth. So is science, especially in the schools of America.

Richard Dawkins

Science - or the products of science like technology - is just a way of achieving something real, something that happens, something that works.

Richard Dawkins

Public sharing is an important part of science.

Richard Dawkins

What's going to happen when I die? I may be buried, or I may be cremated, I may give my body to science. I haven't decided yet.

Richard Dawkins

Of course in science there are things that are open to doubt and things need to be discussed. But among the things that science does know, evolution is about as certain as anything we know.

Richard Dawkins

Any teaching of falsehoods in science classes should certainly be identified and stopped by school inspectors. School inspectors should be looking at science teachings to make sure they are evidence-based science.

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 t...

Richard Dawkins

Author Bio

  • NameRichard Dawkins
  • DescriptionEnglish ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author
  • AliasesClinton Richard Dawkins
  • BornMarch 26, 1941
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionEvolutionary Biologist; Ethologist; Science Writer; Popularizer Of Science; Essayist; Theoretical Biologist; Epistemologist; Sociobiologist
  • WorksThe Selfish Gene
  • AwardsFellow Of The Royal Society; Kistler Prize; Michael Faraday Prize; International Cosmos Prize; Lewis Thomas Prize; Shakespeare Prize; Humanist Of The Year