Words are not trivial. They matter because they raise consciousness.
Interpretation
Words have significant impact and can elevate awareness and understanding.
In this quote, Richard Dawkins emphasizes the importance of words, suggesting that they are not simply casual or insignificant elements of communication. Instead, he posits that words have the power to influence thought, raise consciousness, and shape perceptions, thereby playing a crucial role in how individuals understand and interact with the world around them.
In practice
In a speech about the power of communication, one might use this quote to illustrate the importance of choosing words wisely.
No educated person believes the Adam and Eve myth nowadays, but it's surprising how many parents think that it's somehow fun to pass on this falsehood to their children...I would want to argue that the truth of evolution is more interesting and more poetic
If the history-deniers who doubt the fact of evolution are ignorant of biology, those who think the world began less than ten thousand years ago are worst than ignorant, they are the deluded to the point of perversity.
The population of the U.S. is nearly 300 million, including many of the best educated, most talented, most resourceful, humane people on earth. By almost any measure of civilised attainment, from Nobel prize-counts on down, the U.S. leads the world by miles.
When you make machines that are capable of obeying instructions slavishly, and among those instructions are 'duplicate me' instructions, then of course the system is wide open to exploitation by parasites.
Even if not a single fossil has ever been found, the evidence from surviving animals would still overwhelmingly force the conclusion that Darwin was right.
The bitter hatreds that now poison Middle Eastern politics are rooted in the real or perceived wrong of the setting up of a Jewish State in an Islamic region. In view of all that the Jews had been through, it must have seemed a fair and humane solution. Probably deep familiarity with the Old Testament had given the European and American decision-makers some sort of idea that this really was the historic homeland of the Jews.
Whatever you think someone else should give to you, you need to be able to give yourself first.
By honestly acknowledging your past errors, but never damning yourself for them, you can learn to use your past for your own future benefit.
In order not to leave any traces, when you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind; you should be concentrated on what you do. You should do it completely, like a good bonfire. You should not be a smoky fire. You should burn yourself completely. If you do not burn yourself completely, a trace of yourself will be left in what you do. You should not have any remains after you do something. But this does not mean to forget all about it.
Desires are seeds waiting for their season to sprout. From a single seed of desire, whole forests grow.
Money is a needful and precious thing, and when well used, a noble thing, but I never want you to think it is the first or only prize to strive for. I'd rather see you poor men's wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace.
Your masters at Oxford have taught you to idolize reason, drying up the prophetic capacities of your heart!
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