"For the first half of geological time our ancestors were bacteria. Most creatures still are bacteria, and each one of our trillions of cells is a colony of bacteria."

Time

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Time as articulated by Richard Dawkins. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Time provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

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About Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins is a British evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator, noted atheist, and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford. In 1995 he was named the first Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, a position he held until 2008, and is on the advisory board of the University of Austin. Dawkins has won several academic and writing awards, among them the 2005 Shakespeare Prize and the 2006 Lewis Thomas Prize. Presenting the latter, Paul Nurse said "In eloquent, evocative prose, Richard Dawkins conveys the certainty that, rather than diminishing the myriad beauties of the universe and extinguishing wonderment at its mysteries, science reveals truths that are yet more awe-inspiring than the mysteries they solve."

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More by Richard Dawkins

"The meme for blind faith secures its own perpetuation by the simple unconscious expedient of discouraging rational inquiry."

— Richard Dawkins
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"Segregation has no place in the education system."

— Richard Dawkins
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"But perhaps the rest of us could have separate classes in science appreciation, the wonder of science, scientific ways of thinking, and the history of scientific ideas, rather than laboratory experience."

— Richard Dawkins
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"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
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More about Time

"Ryan Leaf is doing great now. If he progresses the way he is now, we're going to have a quarterback that's going to be reckoned with in the near future. And that's not political."

— Junior Seau
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"I don't know what the future holds. Anything is possible."

— Liz Phair
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"We should not say that one man's hour is worth another man's hour, but rather that one man during an hour is worth just as much as another man during an hour. Time is everything, man is nothing: he is at the most time's carcass."

— Karl Marx
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"If you see the magic in a fairy tale, you can face the future."

— Danielle Steel
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