--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: the only good reason to believe that…" description: "\"“the only good reason to believe that something exists is if there is real evidence that it does.”\" — Richard Dawkins" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c4/richard-dawkins-115_believe-exists_the-only-good-reason-to-believe-that-som_2316100.jpg" --- # the only good reason to believe that something exists is… ![“the only good reason to believe that something exists is if there is real evidence that it does.” quote by Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c4/richard-dawkins-115_believe-exists_the-only-good-reason-to-believe-that-som_2316100.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c4/richard-dawkins-115_believe-exists_the-only-good-reason-to-believe-that-som_2316100.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c4/richard-dawkins-115_believe-exists_the-only-good-reason-to-believe-that-som_2316100.jpg) > ““the only good reason to believe that something exists is if there is real evidence that it does.”” [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. Belief should be based on solid evidence rather than faith alone **In simple terms:** Evidence is essential for belief Key Takeaway Demand proof before accepting claims Themes science skepticism evidence philosophy Mood analytical skeptical Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - Evaluating medical claims - debating policy - educational curricula - media consumption Key Concepts Scientific method critical thinking rational inquiry Questions to Reflect On - What evidence would change your mind? - How do you handle claims with limited data? A Different Perspective Evidence can be ambiguous or incomplete, limiting certainty ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Believe Exists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believe-exists-250293/) [Evidence Does](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evidence-does-967015/) [Exists Real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exists-real-1182432/) [Real Evidence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real-evidence-1328588/) [Reason Believe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason-believe/) ## Related quotes > [I like that about the Republicans; the evidence does not faze them, they are not bothered at all by the facts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-j-clinton/i-like-that-about-the-republicans-the-evidence-does-not-faze-them/) [William J. Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-j-clinton/) > [I admire that about the Republicans: The evidence does not faze them. They are not bothered at all by the facts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-j-clinton/i-admire-that-about-the-republicans-the-evidence-does-not-faze-them/) [William J. Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-j-clinton/) > [The physical evidence does not change because of public pressure or personal agenda. Physical evidence does not look away as events unfold nor does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-p-mcculloch/the-physical-evidence-does-not-change-because-of-public-pressure-or/) [Robert P. McCulloch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-p-mcculloch/) > [Faith is the lack of evidence, and it shouldn't be that difficult to convince people that the right reason to believe something is that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/faith-is-the-lack-of-evidence-and-it-shouldn-t-be-that-difficult-to/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Science tells us what we have reason to believe. Not what we have a duty to believe. Not what experts, in their pontificating wisdom,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/science-tells-us-what-we-have-reason-to-believe-not-what-we-have-a/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/the-world-you-desire-can-be-won-it-exists-it-is-real-it-is-possible/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [It is clear that every immediate object of our senses both exists and is real in the primary meaning of these terms so long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-d-broad/it-is-clear-that-every-immediate-object-of-our-senses-both-exists-and/) [Charles D. Broad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-d-broad/) > [There's no way without real evidence I would ever send the National Guard to the border.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-lujan-grisham/there-s-no-way-without-real-evidence-i-would-ever-send-the-national/) [Michelle Lujan Grisham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-lujan-grisham/) > [Baseball lasts as long as it takes. Like life, like love, baseball exists in real time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-tavris/baseball-lasts-as-long-as-it-takes-like-life-like-love-baseball/) [Carol Tavris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-tavris/) > [“What exists is real; therefore it is tragic, since whatever lives must die. Only fantasy, the vapors rising from sheer nonsense, can now excite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-vance/what-exists-is-real-therefore-it-is-tragic-since-whatever-lives-must/) [Jack Vance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-vance/) > [Real evidence is usually vague and unsatisfactory. It has to be examined---sifted. But here the whole thing is cut and dried. No, my friend,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agatha-christie/real-evidence-is-usually-vague-and-unsatisfactory-it-has-to-be/) [Agatha Christie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agatha-christie/) > [“Could something be real when all evidence of it was gone? Was something categorically true if it lived on only in your head, same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marisha-pessl/could-something-be-real-when-all-evidence-of-it-was-gone-was/) [Marisha Pessl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marisha-pessl/) > [Do not let your fire go out ... Do not let the Hero in your soul perish ... Check your road and the nature…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/do-not-let-your-fire-go-out-do-not-let-the-hero-in-your-soul-perish/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [The real evidence is not practically speaking in scholarship but in how Jesus and the Christianity based on him manifest themselves in the lives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-blue/the-real-evidence-is-not-practically-speaking-in-scholarship-but-in/) [Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) > [Whether it is a simulated experience or a dream, the information that exists is all real... and an illusion at the same time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masamune-shirow/whether-it-is-a-simulated-experience-or-a-dream-the-information-that/) [Masamune Shirow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masamune-shirow/) ## 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/) [Explore all 1,239 Richard Dawkins quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) ## More Believe Exists quotes > [“I've come to believe that there exists in the universe something I call "The Physics of The Quest" — a force of nature governed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gilbert/i-ve-come-to-believe-that-there-exists-in-the-universe-something-i/) [Elizabeth Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gilbert/) > [What we believe is what we see. It is what exists for us. It carries the power we accord to it even though it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-mark/what-we-believe-is-what-we-see-it-is-what-exists-for-us-it-carries/) [Terry Mark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-mark/) > [I'm one of those people that thinks the Internet is amazing, and I can't believe it exists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mayim-bialik/i-m-one-of-those-people-that-thinks-the-internet-is-amazing-and-i-can/) [Mayim Bialik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mayim-bialik/) > [“Without faith it is impossible to please him,for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-the-apostle-of-jesus-christ/without-faith-it-is-impossible-to-please-him-for-whoever-would-draw/) [Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-the-apostle-of-jesus-christ/) > [The devil has not vanished simply because people refuse to believe he exists, no more than God has.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-devil-has-not-vanished-simply-because-people-refuse-to-believe-he/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Everything tends to make us believe that there exists a certain point of the mind at which life and death, the real and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/everything-tends-to-make-us-believe-that-there-exists-a-certain-point/) [Andre Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) > [“Nothing substantial can ever truly be accomplished if you still believe nothing exists beyond that of a singular life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sufian-chaudhary/nothing-substantial-can-ever-truly-be-accomplished-if-you-still/) [Sufian Chaudhary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sufian-chaudhary/) > [Oh, love isn't there to make us happy. I believe it exists to show us how much we can endure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/oh-love-isn-t-there-to-make-us-happy-i-believe-it-exists-to-show-us/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [Before we can know God and understand his great plan it is first necessary for us to believe that he exists and that he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-franklin-rutherford/before-we-can-know-god-and-understand-his-great-plan-it-is-first/) [Joseph Franklin Rutherford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-franklin-rutherford/) > [“Everything leads us to believe that there exists a spot in the mind from which life and death, the real and the imaginary, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/everything-leads-us-to-believe-that-there-exists-a-spot-in-the-mind/) [André Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) > [I look for kindness, honestly, integrity, intelligence, humor and good values, and of course, a fun, loving guy! And yes, I believe he exists!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shamita-shetty/i-look-for-kindness-honestly-integrity-intelligence-humor-and-good/) [Shamita Shetty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shamita-shetty/) > [“Can a girl find true love if she doesn't believe it exists?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heather-hepler/can-a-girl-find-true-love-if-she-doesn-t-believe-it-exists/) [Heather Hepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heather-hepler/) > [“He’s like an apparition, appearing now and again: a rumor, a myth. Hearsay. Not verified. Not real. You have to want to believe in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-wood/he-s-like-an-apparition-appearing-now-and-again-a-rumor-a-myth/) [Tom Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-wood/) > [I don't believe you can say 'forever'; I don't believe it exists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vanessa-paradis/i-don-t-believe-you-can-say-forever-i-don-t-believe-it-exists/) [Vanessa Paradis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vanessa-paradis/) > [Subliminal perception is a subject that virtually no one wants to believe exists, and -- if it does exist -- they much less believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilson-bryan-key/subliminal-perception-is-a-subject-that-virtually-no-one-wants-to/) [Wilson Bryan Key](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilson-bryan-key/) [Browse all 21 Believe Exists quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believe-exists-250293/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“the only good reason to believe that something exists is if there is real evidence that it does.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Richard Dawkins" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-only-good-reason-to-believe-that-something-exists-is-if-there-is/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Believe Exists" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-only-good-reason-to-believe-that-something-exists-is-if-there-is/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c4/richard-dawkins-115_believe-exists_the-only-good-reason-to-believe-that-som_2316100.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c4/richard-dawkins-115_believe-exists_the-only-good-reason-to-believe-that-som_2316100.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c4/richard-dawkins-115_believe-exists_the-only-good-reason-to-believe-that-som_2316100.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“the only good reason to believe that something exists is if there is real evidence that it does.” — Richard Dawkins", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "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": "Richard Dawkins", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“the only good reason to believe...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-only-good-reason-to-believe-that-something-exists-is-if-there-is/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-only-good-reason-to-believe-that-something-exists-is-if-there-is/#breadcrumb" }, { "@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 } } ] } ```