It is almost as if the human brain were specifically designed to misunderstand Darwinism, and to find it hard to believe

I find many of answers in the spiritual realm. That in no way compromises my ability to think rigorously as a scientist.

Let our tribute to the dead be a new resolve: to respect people for what they individually think, rather than respect groups for what they were collectively brought up to believe.

We should learn to understand natural selection, so that we can oppose any tendency to apply it to human politics.

Scientific truth is too beautiful to be sacrificed for the sake of light entertainment or money. Astrology is an aesthetic affront. It cheapens astronomy, like using Beethoven for commercial jingles.

I suspect the reason is that most people [...] have a residue of feeling that Darwinian evolution isn't quite big enough to explain everything about life. All I can say as a biologist is that the feeling disappears progressively the more you read about and study what is known about life and evolution. I want to add one thing more. The more you understand the significance of evolution, the more you are pushed away from the agnostic position and towards atheism. Complex, statistically improbable things are by their nature more difficult to explain than simple, statistically probable things.

I read novels for entertainment rather than for edification, so I tend not to read the sort of novels that are said to illuminate the human condition.