"Design can never be an ultimate explanation for anything. It can only be a proximate explanation. A plane or a car is explained by a designer but that's because the designer himself, the engineer, is explained by natural selection."

"Religion is about turning untested belief into unshakable truth through the power of institutions and the passage of time."

"We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."

"When I say that human beings are just gene machines, one shouldn't put too much emphasis on the word 'just.' There is a very great deal of complication, and indeed beauty in being a gene machine."

"Einstein, stop telling God what to do!"

"God gave us the gift of life it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well."

"Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one."

"My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-seven now, and we don't know where the hell she is."