Peter Atkins Quotes

#1. The emergence of consciousness, like the unfolding of a leaf, relies upon restraint.

Peter Atkins

#2. [Religion is] a fantasy [and is] completely empty of any explanatory content. It is also evil.

Peter Atkins

#3. Focusing on what matters means saying no to things that don't matter. Otherwise, your life becomes cluttered with distractions.

Peter Atkins

#4. I regard teaching religion as purveying lies.

Peter Atkins

#5. The challenge of elucidating living processes
including consciousness and all its baggage which we bundle together as 'the human spirit'
is only one example of a challenge where hard work is paying off and science does not need to accept the false explanations peddled by religions.

Peter Atkins

#6. Chemistry begins in the stars. The stars are the source of the chemical elements, which are the building blocks of matter and the core of our subject.

Peter Atkins

#7. Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it. - Plato

Peter Atkins

#8. My aim is to argue that the universe can come into existence without intervention, and that there is no need to invoke the idea of a Supreme Being in one of its numerous manifestations.

Peter Atkins

#9. Theologians could not even agree about the nature of their gods. These personages ranged from "blue touch-paper gods" who started everything and never interfered again, to "infinitely meddlesome gods who, as well as starting it off, police every elementary particle.

Peter Atkins

#10. Science is almost totally incompatible with religion.

Peter Atkins

#11. Any argument that asserts that 'God did it' is a sign of a lazy mind.

Peter Atkins

#12. It is not possible to be intellectually honest and believe in gods. And it is not possible to believe in gods and be a true scientist.

Peter Atkins

#13. Science reveals where religion conceals. Where religion purports to explain, it actually resorts to tautology. To assert that "God did it" is no more than an admission of ignorance dressed deceitfully as an explanation..

Peter Atkins

#14. We are children of chaos, and the deep structure of change is decay. At root, there is only corruption, and the unstemmable tide of chaos. Gone is purpose; all that is left is direction. This is the bleakness we have to accept as we peer deeply and dispassionately into the heart of the Universe.

Peter Atkins

#15. Well it's fairly straightforward: there isn't one [a god]. And there's no evidence for one, no reason to believe that there is one, and so I don't believe that there is one. And I think that it is rather foolish that people do think that there is one.

Peter Atkins