--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: People will say, \"You're never going to…" description: "\"People will say, \"You're never going to convince me that something as complicated as an eye could come about by sheer chance.\" And the answer is that n..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/872/richard-dawkins-115_answers_people-will-say-you-re-never-going-to-co_788305.jpg" --- # People will say, "You're never going to convince me that… ![“People will say, "You're never going to convince me that something as complicated as an eye could come about by sheer chance." And the answer is that natural selection is the very opposite of sheer chance. Natural selection is a non-random process.” quote by Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/872/richard-dawkins-115_answers_people-will-say-you-re-never-going-to-co_788305.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/872/richard-dawkins-115_answers_people-will-say-you-re-never-going-to-co_788305.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/872/richard-dawkins-115_answers_people-will-say-you-re-never-going-to-co_788305.jpg) > “People will say, "You're never going to convince me that something as complicated as an eye could come about by sheer chance." And the answer is that natural selection is the very opposite of sheer chance. Natural selection is a non-random process.” [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Natural selection is a deterministic, non‑random mechanism that shapes complex traits, contrary to the notion that chance alone creates complexity. **In simple terms:** Evolution works through guided, not random, processes. Key Takeaway Understand the role of selection in evolution. Themes science evolution misconception Mood educational inquisitive Type scientific explanatory When to use this quote - biology education - public debates - policy making Key Concepts non‑randomness adaptation complexity Questions to Reflect On - How does misunderstanding selection affect scientific literacy? - What evidence best illustrates non‑random evolution? A Different Perspective People may conflate randomness with design, hindering acceptance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Answers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/answers/) [Chance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chance/) [Complicated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complicated/) [Convince](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/convince/) [Evolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evolution/) [Eye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eye/) [Natural](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural/) [Natural selection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural-selection/) [Non Random](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/non-random-6059845/) [Opposites](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opposites/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Process](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/process/) [Selection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/selection/) [Selection Non](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/selection-non-6059846/) [Selection Opposite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/selection-opposite-3151668/) [Sheer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sheer/) [Sheer Chance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sheer-chance-1537525/) ## Related quotes > [Mutation is random; natural selection is the very opposite of random.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/mutation-is-random-natural-selection-is-the-very-opposite-of-random/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Of course you have to believe in destiny; that everything is sheer chance is an intolerable notion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/of-course-you-have-to-believe-in-destiny-that-everything-is-sheer/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [Natural selection will not remove ignorance from future generations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/natural-selection-will-not-remove-ignorance-from-future-generations/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [My eyes are constantly wide open to the extraordinary fact of existence. Not just human existence, but the existence of life and how this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/my-eyes-are-constantly-wide-open-to-the-extraordinary-fact-of/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“...natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinizing, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/natural-selection-is-daily-and-hourly-scrutinizing-throughout-the/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [If there are other worlds elsewhere in the universe, I would conjecture they are governed by the same laws of natural selection.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/if-there-are-other-worlds-elsewhere-in-the-universe-i-would/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [As Darwin himself was at pains to point out, natural selection is all about differential survival within species, not between them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/as-darwin-himself-was-at-pains-to-point-out-natural-selection-is-all/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Design can never be an ultimate explanation for anything. It can only be a proximate explanation. A plane or a car is explained by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/design-can-never-be-an-ultimate-explanation-for-anything-it-can-only/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [For me, the level at which natural selection causes the phenomenon of adaptation is the level of the replicator - the gene.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/for-me-the-level-at-which-natural-selection-causes-the-phenomenon-of/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation forthe existence and apparently purposeful form…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/natural-selection-the-blind-unconscious-automatic-process-which/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Natural selection is anything but random.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/natural-selection-is-anything-but-random/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“The earliest form of natural selection was simply a selection of stable forms and a rejection of unstable ones. There is no mystery about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-earliest-form-of-natural-selection-was-simply-a-selection-of/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [I believe in the theory of evolution, but I believe as well in the allegorical truth of creation theory. In other words, I believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-langan/i-believe-in-the-theory-of-evolution-but-i-believe-as-well-in-the/) [Christopher Langan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-langan/) > [. . . by natural selection our mind has adapted itself to the conditions of the external world. It has adopted the geometry most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-poincare/by-natural-selection-our-mind-has-adapted-itself-to-the-conditions-of/) [Henri Poincare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-poincare/) > [The right to live does not connote the right of each man to reproduce his kind ... As we lessen the stringency of natural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-pearson/the-right-to-live-does-not-connote-the-right-of-each-man-to-reproduce/) [Karl Pearson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-pearson/) ## 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. 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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. 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Lecturing to children is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-disney/i-have-long-felt-that-the-way-to-keep-children-out-of-trouble-is-to/) [Walt Disney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-disney/) > [Let me tell you that atheism has never painted a masterpiece. Atheism has never dispelled fear. Atheism has never healed a disease; faith in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hagee/let-me-tell-you-that-atheism-has-never-painted-a-masterpiece-atheism/) [John Hagee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hagee/) > [“As long as you keep searching,the answers will come.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kynock/as-long-as-you-keep-searching-the-answers-will-come/) [Mitch Kynock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-kynock/) > [The answer to deep anxiety is the deep adoration of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-voskamp/the-answer-to-deep-anxiety-is-the-deep-adoration-of-god/) [Ann Voskamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-voskamp/) > [A dialogue is very important. 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