--- title: "6 Improbability Quotes By Richard Dawkins" description: "6 Improbability quotes by Richard Dawkins. Plus more from Richard Dawkins and more Improbability sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf3/richard-dawkins-115_argument_the-argument-from-improbability-properly_214652.jpg" --- > [The argument from improbability, properly deployed, comes close to proving that God does not exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-argument-from-improbability-properly-deployed-comes-close-to/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf3/richard-dawkins-115_argument_the-argument-from-improbability-properly_214652.jpg) > [What I can't understand is why you invoke improbability and yet you will not admit that you're shooting yourself in the foot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/what-i-can-t-understand-is-why-you-invoke-improbability-and-yet-you/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/643/richard-dawkins-115_existence_what-i-can-t-understand-is-why-you-invok_1059009.jpg) > [The essence of life is statistical improbability on a colossal scale.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-essence-of-life-is-statistical-improbability-on-a-colossal-scale/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7c/richard-dawkins-115_colossal_the-essence-of-life-is-statistical-impro_1079608.jpg) > [Each step is not too improbable for us to countenance, but when you add them up cumulatively over millions of years, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/each-step-is-not-too-improbable-for-us-to-countenance-but-when-you/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/876/richard-dawkins-115_add_each-step-is-not-too-improbable-for-us-t_2074673.jpg) > [“Natural selection is not only a parsimonious, plausible and elegant solution; it is the only workable alternative to chance that has ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/natural-selection-is-not-only-a-parsimonious-plausible-and-elegant/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03a/richard-dawkins-115_begging-the-question_natural-selection-is-not-only-a-parsimon_2077767.jpg) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/i-think-that-s-the-mother-and-father-of-all-cop-outs-it-s-an-honest/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72d/richard-dawkins-115_cop_i-think-that-s-the-mother-and-father-of_3082551.jpg) ## 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/improbability/richard-dawkins/#itemlist", "name": "6 Improbability Quotes By Richard Dawkins", "numberOfItems": 6, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The argument from improbability, properly deployed, comes close to proving that God does not exist.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Richard Dawkins" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-argument-from-improbability-properly-deployed-comes-close-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf3/richard-dawkins-115_argument_the-argument-from-improbability-properly_214652.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf3/richard-dawkins-115_argument_the-argument-from-improbability-properly_214652.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf3/richard-dawkins-115_argument_the-argument-from-improbability-properly_214652.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The argument from improbability, properly deployed, comes close to proving that God does not exist.” — Richard Dawkins", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "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.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Richard Dawkins" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/what-i-can-t-understand-is-why-you-invoke-improbability-and-yet-you/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/643/richard-dawkins-115_existence_what-i-can-t-understand-is-why-you-invok_1059009.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/643/richard-dawkins-115_existence_what-i-can-t-understand-is-why-you-invok_1059009.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/643/richard-dawkins-115_existence_what-i-can-t-understand-is-why-you-invok_1059009.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“What I can't understand is why you invoke improbability and yet you will not admit that you're shooting…” — Richard Dawkins", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The essence of life is statistical improbability on a colossal scale.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Richard Dawkins" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-essence-of-life-is-statistical-improbability-on-a-colossal-scale/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7c/richard-dawkins-115_colossal_the-essence-of-life-is-statistical-impro_1079608.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7c/richard-dawkins-115_colossal_the-essence-of-life-is-statistical-impro_1079608.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7c/richard-dawkins-115_colossal_the-essence-of-life-is-statistical-impro_1079608.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The essence of life is statistical improbability on a colossal scale.” — Richard Dawkins", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Each step is not too improbable for us to countenance, but when you add them up cumulatively over millions of years, you get these monsters of improbability, like the human brain and the rain forest. It should warn us against ever again assuming that because something is complicated, God must have done it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Richard Dawkins" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/each-step-is-not-too-improbable-for-us-to-countenance-but-when-you/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/876/richard-dawkins-115_add_each-step-is-not-too-improbable-for-us-t_2074673.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/876/richard-dawkins-115_add_each-step-is-not-too-improbable-for-us-t_2074673.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/876/richard-dawkins-115_add_each-step-is-not-too-improbable-for-us-t_2074673.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Each step is not too improbable for us to countenance, but when you add them up cumulatively over millions…” — Richard Dawkins", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Natural selection is not only a parsimonious, plausible and elegant solution; it is the only workable alternative to chance that has ever been suggested. Intelligent design suffers from exactly the same objection as chance. It is simply not a plausible solution to the riddle of statistical improbability. And the higher the improbability, the more implausible intelligent design becomes. Seen clearly, intelligent design will turn out to be a redoubling of the problem. Once again, this is because the designer himself (/herself/itself) immediately raises the bigger problem of his own origin. Any entity capable of intelligently designing something as improbable as a Dutchman's Pipe (or a universe) would have to be even more improbable than a Dutchman's Pipe. Far from terminating the vicious regress, God aggravates it with a vengeance.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Richard Dawkins" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/natural-selection-is-not-only-a-parsimonious-plausible-and-elegant/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03a/richard-dawkins-115_begging-the-question_natural-selection-is-not-only-a-parsimon_2077767.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03a/richard-dawkins-115_begging-the-question_natural-selection-is-not-only-a-parsimon_2077767.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03a/richard-dawkins-115_begging-the-question_natural-selection-is-not-only-a-parsimon_2077767.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Natural selection is not only a parsimonious, plausible and elegant solution; it is the only workable…” — Richard Dawkins", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "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.\"", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Richard Dawkins" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/i-think-that-s-the-mother-and-father-of-all-cop-outs-it-s-an-honest/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72d/richard-dawkins-115_cop_i-think-that-s-the-mother-and-father-of_3082551.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72d/richard-dawkins-115_cop_i-think-that-s-the-mother-and-father-of_3082551.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72d/richard-dawkins-115_cop_i-think-that-s-the-mother-and-father-of_3082551.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I think that's the mother and father of all cop-outs. 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