Richard Dawkins

"The universe operates without supernatural intervention."

"We should value knowledge and evidence over dogma."

"Nature is the greatest teacher if we listen."

"Science is not about proving things; it's about understanding them."

"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."

"We are survival machines—robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes."

"Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence."

"An atheist before Darwin could have said, 'I have no explanation for complex biological design.' But they could not say that after 1859."

"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction."

"Consciousness is not a mystery unique to humans. Animals clearly have it too."

"Science works on the basis of parsimony—explaining phenomena with the fewest assumptions possible."

"We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born."

"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."

"DNA is like a computer program but far, far more advanced than any software ever created."

"Absolute morality is a myth. Our sense of right and wrong is evolved rather than divinely revealed."

"Imagination is capable of bringing together experiences that have never been combined in reality."

"We should replace the comfort of faith with the challenge of reason."

"Children deserve respect and honesty from adults, not the patronizing falsehoods of myth."

"The beauty of evolution is that it explains complexity through simplicity—through the gradual accumulation of small changes."

"Superstition is a desperate attempt to control an uncontrollable universe."

"Genes drive us to be selfish, but we have the consciousness to recognize our genetic heritage and to override it when we choose."

"The internet is a powerful tool for spreading both truth and falsehood with equal efficiency."

"Asking who designed the designer simply postpones the problem of explaining complexity."

"We are the only species that understands causation well enough to rewrite our own futures."

"History shows us that moral progress is possible without religious doctrine as a foundation."

"The burden of proof lies with those making extraordinary claims, not with those skeptical of them."

"A rational worldview leads to wonder and awe about the cosmos, not diminishment of it."

"Species are not real entities but convenient labels we place on a continuum of change."

"To understand life, we must understand that genes, not organisms, are the true replicators."

"The meme is to cultural evolution what the gene is to biological evolution."