---
title: "2 Adulthood Quotes By Richard Dawkins"
description: "2 Adulthood quotes by Richard Dawkins. Plus more from Richard Dawkins and more Adulthood sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7da/richard-dawkins-115_adulthood_the-adult-world-may-seem-a-cold-and-empt_1312337.jpg"
---

> [“The adult world may seem a cold and empty place, with no fairies and no Father Christmas, no Toyland or Narnia, no Happy Hunting Ground where mourned pets go, and no angels - guardian or garden variety. But there are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-adult-world-may-seem-a-cold-and-empty-place-with-no-fairies-and/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7da/richard-dawkins-115_adulthood_the-adult-world-may-seem-a-cold-and-empt_1312337.jpg)

> [“Not to grow up properly is to retain our 'caterpillar' quality from childhood (where it is a virtue) into adulthood (where it becomes a vice). In childhood our credulity serves us well. It helps us to pack, with extraordinary rapidity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/not-to-grow-up-properly-is-to-retain-our-caterpillar-quality-from/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ed/richard-dawkins-115_adulthood_not-to-grow-up-properly-is-to-retain-our_2173357.jpg)

## Other authors on Adulthood

- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b022/author-sloane-crosley-85904.jpg) Sloane Crosley 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adulthood/sloane-crosley/)
- [Alida Nugent 6 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adulthood/alida-nugent/)
- [Mokokoma Mokhonoana 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adulthood/mokokoma-mokhonoana/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-gretchen-rubin-39517.jpg) Gretchen Rubin 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adulthood/gretchen-rubin/)

## More by Richard Dawkins

> [At the deepest level, all living things that have ever been looked at have the same DNA code. And many of the same genes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/at-the-deepest-level-all-living-things-that-have-ever-been-looked-at/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [The word 'mundane' has come to mean 'boring' and 'dull', and it really shouldn't - it should mean the opposite. Because it comes from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-word-mundane-has-come-to-mean-boring-and-dull-and-it-really/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [We animals are the most complicated things in the known universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/we-animals-are-the-most-complicated-things-in-the-known-universe/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [“The fundamentalist Kurt Wise proclaims that all the evidence in the universe would not change his mind. The true scientist, however passionately he may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-fundamentalist-kurt-wise-proclaims-that-all-the-evidence-in-the/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [“I have found it an amusing strategy, when asked whether I am an atheist, to point out that the questioner is also an atheist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/i-have-found-it-an-amusing-strategy-when-asked-whether-i-am-an/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [Religions do make claims about the universe--the same kinds of claims that scientists make, except they're usually false.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/religions-do-make-claims-about-the-universe-the-same-kinds-of-claims/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [“much of the Bible is not systematically evil but just plain weird, as you would expect of a chaotically cobbled-together anthology of disjointed documents,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/much-of-the-bible-is-not-systematically-evil-but-just-plain-weird-as/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [The recurrent laryngeal nerve - which runs from the head to the voice box - goes all the way down into the chest, loops…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-recurrent-laryngeal-nerve-which-runs-from-the-head-to-the-voice/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [The Roman Catholic Church is an institution for whose gains the phrase "ill-gotten" might have been specially invented. And of all its money-making rip-offs,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-roman-catholic-church-is-an-institution-for-whose-gains-the/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [Let us understand what our own selfish genes are up to because we may then at least have the chance to upset their designs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/let-us-understand-what-our-own-selfish-genes-are-up-to-because-we-may/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [What's going to happen when I die? I may be buried, or I may be cremated, I may give my body to science. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/what-s-going-to-happen-when-i-die-i-may-be-buried-or-i-may-be/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [Or why it is acceptable to train fast runners and high jumpers but not to breed them. I can think of some answers, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/or-why-it-is-acceptable-to-train-fast-runners-and-high-jumpers-but/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [We have seen that living things are too improbable and too beautifully 'designed' to have come into existence by chance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/we-have-seen-that-living-things-are-too-improbable-and-too/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [“We will not go quietly away. If in the future that requires violence”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/we-will-not-go-quietly-away-if-in-the-future-that-requires-violence/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [It's a truly disgusting idea that the creator of the universe - capable of inventing the laws of physics and designing the evolutionary process…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/it-s-a-truly-disgusting-idea-that-the-creator-of-the-universe-capable/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adulthood/richard-dawkins/#itemlist",
            "name": "2 Adulthood Quotes By Richard Dawkins",
            "numberOfItems": 2,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“The adult world may seem a cold and empty place, with no fairies and no Father Christmas, no Toyland or Narnia, no Happy Hunting Ground where mourned pets go, and no angels - guardian or garden variety. But there are also no devils, no hellfire, no wicked witches, no ghosts, no haunted houses, no daemonic possession, no bogeymen or ogres. Yes, Teddy and Dolly turn out not to be really alive. But there are warm, live, speaking, thinking, adult bedf ellows to hold, and many of us find it a more rewarding kind of love than the childish affection for stuffed toys, however soft and cuddly they may be.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Richard Dawkins"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-adult-world-may-seem-a-cold-and-empty-place-with-no-fairies-and/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7da/richard-dawkins-115_adulthood_the-adult-world-may-seem-a-cold-and-empt_1312337.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7da/richard-dawkins-115_adulthood_the-adult-world-may-seem-a-cold-and-empt_1312337.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7da/richard-dawkins-115_adulthood_the-adult-world-may-seem-a-cold-and-empt_1312337.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“The adult world may seem a cold and empty place, with no fairies and no Father Christmas, no Toyland or…” — Richard Dawkins",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Not to grow up properly is to retain our 'caterpillar' quality from childhood (where it is a virtue) into adulthood (where it becomes a vice). In childhood our credulity serves us well. It helps us to pack, with extraordinary rapidity, our skulls full of the wisdom of our parents and our ancestors. But if we don't grow out of it in the fullness of time, our caterpillar nature makes us a sitting target for astrologers, mediums, gurus, evangelists and quacks. The genius of the human child, mental caterpillar extraordinary, is for soaking up information and ideas, not for criticizing them. If critical faculties later grow it will be in spite of, not because of, the inclinations of childhood. The blotting paper of the child's brain is the unpromising seedbed, the base upon which later the sceptical attitude, like a struggling mustard plant, may possibly grow. We need to replace the automatic credulity of childhood with the constructive scepticism of adult science.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Richard Dawkins"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/not-to-grow-up-properly-is-to-retain-our-caterpillar-quality-from/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ed/richard-dawkins-115_adulthood_not-to-grow-up-properly-is-to-retain-our_2173357.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ed/richard-dawkins-115_adulthood_not-to-grow-up-properly-is-to-retain-our_2173357.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ed/richard-dawkins-115_adulthood_not-to-grow-up-properly-is-to-retain-our_2173357.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Not to grow up properly is to retain our 'caterpillar' quality from childhood (where it is a virtue) into…” — Richard Dawkins",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adulthood/richard-dawkins/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adulthood/richard-dawkins/",
            "name": "Adulthood Quotes by Richard Dawkins",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adulthood/richard-dawkins/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7da/richard-dawkins-115_adulthood_the-adult-world-may-seem-a-cold-and-empt_1312337.jpg"
            },
            "description": "2 Adulthood quotes by Richard Dawkins. Plus more from Richard Dawkins and more Adulthood sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adulthood/richard-dawkins/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adulthood/richard-dawkins/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Adulthood",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adulthood/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Richard Dawkins",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adulthood/richard-dawkins/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
