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Quote by Richard Dawkins

“I read novels for entertainment rather than for edification, so I tend not to read the sort of novels that are said to illuminate the human condition.”

Quote by Richard Dawkins

Author

Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins is a British ethologist, writer, and thinker, known for his contributions to evolutionary theory, particularly in the field of modern synthesis. He is widely recognized for his best-selling book 'The Selfish Gene', which explains the central role of genes in biological evolution. Dawkins has made significant impacts in the field of science communication and has sparked widespread discussions about human behavior and morality. more

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“I have never quite understood - and this is no doubt my failing - I never quite understood why you would read fiction to understand the human condition.”

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“I'm easily persuaded that a really good novelist who gets inside somebody else's head could be serving a valuable purpose. I enjoy satirical novels that take a wry, humorous, ironic look at modern life.”

Looks Purpose Enjoy Novel Modern Humorous Valuable Novelists Serving Ironic Modern Life Satirical Wry

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“I'm a sucker for nice religious leaders. I fall for it every time.”

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“Pope Francis seems to be a much nicer man than Pope Benedict, but I'm not sure that his views on things that really matter are all that different. Whereas Benedict was perhaps a wolf in wolf's clothing, Francis is perhaps a wolf in sheep's clothing.”

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“The discovery of agriculture was the first big step toward a civilized life.”

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Book:Evolution and Ethics

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“There isn't [in new atheism]. Nothing that wasn't in Bertrand Russell or probably Robert Ingersoll. But I suppose it is more of a political effect, in that all these books happened to come out at the same time. I like to think that we have some influence.”

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“There's an element of paradox there - that at least you know where you stand with the fundamentalists. I mean, they're absolutely clear in their error and their stupidity, and so you can really go after them.”

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Author:Richard Dawkins

“What I can't understand is why you invoke improbability and yet you will not admit that you're shooting yourself in the foot by postulating something just as improbable, magicking into existence the word God.”

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“I think that's the mother and father of all cop-outs. It's an honest scientific quest to discover where this apparent improbability comes from. Now [Francis] Collins says, "Well, God did it. And God needs no explanation because God is outside all this." Well, what an incredible evasion of the responsibility to explain. Scientists don't do that. Scientists say, "We're working on it. We're struggling to understand."”

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“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.”

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Author:Richard Dawkins