"The Selfish Gene" Quotes

We are survival machines – robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes.

The genes are the immortals, or rather, they are defined as genetic entities that come close to deserving the title.

Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish.

We are built as gene machines and cultured as meme machines.

The gene, the unit of heredity, is not just one thing among many. It is the unit.

The feeling that there is something beyond, something more, is a widespread human characteristic.

The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.

The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation.

The argument of this book is that we, and all other animals, are machines created by our genes.

The universe is made of matter and energy, but in what proportions and why it should be so is a mystery.