Richard Dawkins Quotes

Unbeing dead isn't being alive.

Sleep is good, death is better; but of course, the best thing would to have never been born at all.

That's the worst health condition you can have, not being alive.

When we exist, death is not yet present, and when death is present, then we do not exist.

Death is wonderful because you can't think about it. How are you gonna think about it?

If you’re alive, don’t move, if you’re dead, don’t worry about it.

This parrot is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker. This is a late parrot. It's a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. If you hadn't nailed it to the perch, it would be pushing up the daisies. It's rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-parrot.

Life is here, death is over there. I am here, not over there.

Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.

Death is a false fear. When it is here, you won't be. When it's not, you are here.

Sleep is lovely, death is better still, not to have been born is of course the miracle.

We can imagine our bodies being destroyed, our brains ceasing to function, our bones turning to dust, but it is harder - some would say impossible - to imagine the end of our very existence.

Death doesn't affect the living because it has not happened yet. Death doesn't concern the dead because they have ceased to exist.

Don't look forward to the day you stop suffering, because when it comes you'll know you're dead.

Personally, I would not care for immortality in the least. There is nothing better than oblivion, since in oblivion there is no wish unfulfilled. We had it before we were born yet did not complain. Shall we whine because we know it will return? It is Elysium enough for me, at any rate.

Life can't die. It's a contradiction.

I cannot believe in the immortality of the soul. No, all this talk of an existence for us, as individuals, beyond the grave is wrong. It is born of our tenacity of life - our desire to go on living - our dread of coming to an end.

The living are just the dead on holiday

The dead sleep in their moonless night; my business is with the living.

The dead they sleep a long, long sleep; The dead they rest, and their rest is deep; The dead have peace, but the living weep.

Once you're alive, you can't ever be dead.

Death, that final evil, is one of the paths to eternity. Endless life in the conditions of our existence would be a nightmare.

The first thing I would like to tell you about death is that there is no bigger lie than death. And yet, death appears to be true. It not only appears to be true but also seems like the cardinal truth of life - it appears as if the whole of life is surrounded by death. Whether we forget about it, or become oblivious to it, everywhere death remains close to us. Death is even closer to us than our own shadow.

I'm not afraid of being dead, that's to say there's nothing to be afraid of. I won't know I'm dead, would be my strong conviction. And if I find that I'm alive in any way at all, that'll be a pleasant surprise. I quite like surprises.