“Mutation is random; natural selection is the very opposite of random.”
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 2 “Good Design” (p. 41)
Quotes from book
The Blind Watchmaker
The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design is a 1986 book by Richard Dawkins, in which the author presents an explanation of, and argument for, the theory of evolution by means of natural selection. He also presents arguments to refute certain criticisms made on his first book, The Selfish Gene. An unabridged audiobook edition was released in 2011, narrated by Richard Dawkins and Lalla Ward.
“There has been progress in design, but not progress in accomplishment.”
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 7 “Constructive Evolution” (p. 186)
“Evolution normally does not come to a halt, but constantly ‘tracks’ the changing environment.”
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 7 “Constructive Evolution” (p. 179)
“Contrary to earlier prejudices, there is nothing inherently progressive about evolution.”
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 7 “Constructive Evolution” (p. 178)
“Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist.”
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 1 “Explaining the Very Improbable” (p. 6)
“There are people in the world who desperately want not to have to believe in Darwinism.”
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 9 “Puncturing Punctuationism” (p. 250)
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 11 “Doomed Rivals” (p. 288)
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 8 “Explosions and Spirals” (pp. 195–196)
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 6 “Origins and Miracles” (p. 141)
“This not only misses the point, it is the precise antithesis of the point.”
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 10 “The One True Tree of Life” (p. 261)
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 6 “Origins and Miracles” (p. 162)
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 7 “Constructive Evolution” (p. 184)
“Human vanity cherishes the absurd notion that our species is the final goal of evolution.”
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 3 “Accumulating Small Change” (p. 50)
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 1 “Explaining the Very Improbable” (p. 5)
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 5 “The Power and the Archives” (p. 122)
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 11 “Doomed Rivals” (p. 316)
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 1 “Explaining the Very Improbable”
