“Religion is defined as social systems whose participants avow a supernatural agent or agents whose approval is to be sought.”

The way evolution always discovers reasons is by retroactive endorsement.

The evidence for evolution pours in, not only from geology, paleontology, biogeography, and anatomy, but of course from molecular biology and every other branch of the life sciences.

Cost is always an object – the second law of thermodynamics sees to that.

In the long run I certainly hope information is the cure for fanaticism, but I am afraid information is more the cause than the cure.

Darwin’s idea of natural selection makes people uncomfortable because it reverses the direction of tradition.

The haven all memes depend on reaching is the human mind, but a human mind is itself an artifact created when memes restructure a human brain in order to make it a better habitat for memes.

A child raised on a desert island, alone, without social interaction, without language, and thus lacking empathy, is still a sentient being.

What you can imagine depends on what you know.

There’s simply no polite way to tell people they’ve dedicated their lives to an illusion.

There is no such thing as philosophy-free science, just science that has been conducted without any consideration of its underlying philosophical assumptions.

True, you don’t have to be religious to be crazy, but it helps.

It is not so much that we, using our brains, spin our yarns, as that our brains, using yarns, spin us.

It’s a no win situation. It’s a mug’s game. The religions have contrived to make it impossible to disagree with them critically without being rude. They play the hurt feelings card at every opportunity.

There’s no polite way to say to somebody (religious followers) ‘Do you realize you’ve wasted your life?

The idea that God is a worthy recipient of our gratitude for the blessings of life but should not be held accountable for the disasters is a transparently disingenuous innovation of the theologians.

Go ahead and believe in God , if you like, but don’t imagine that you have been given any grounds for such a belief by science.

I love to sing. It’s just a natural thing for me.

Let’s start with the church. As you know, it’s my background, it’s a natural setting for me and it’s definitely my roots.

In natural science the principles of truth ought to be confirmed by observation.

Imperfection is not our personal problem – it is a natural part of existing.

When scientifically investigating the natural world, the only thing worse than a blind believer is a seeing denier.

I feel very strongly that curves are natural, womanly and real. I shall continue to hope that women are able to believe in themselves for who they are inside, and not feel under such incredible pressure to be unnaturally thin.

To those who have chosen the profession of medicine, a knowledge of chemistry, and of some branches of natural history, and, indeed, of several other departments of science, affords useful assistance.

All women are ambitious naturally.