Quote from Richard Dawkins

An interesting quote from Richard Dawkins book "Unweaving the Rainbow".

We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton.


We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here...

After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with color, bountiful with life. Within decades we must close our eyes again. Who, with such a thought, would not spring from bed, eager to resume discovering the world and rejoicing to be a part of it?

I've never regarded his philosophical ability in high esteem but he expresses himself very well. The quote is of course only applicable for those who believe that's there's no ultimate purpose or goal in life and this life is all we have. Which I don't personally subscribe to, but if I did I would share Dawkins' sentiments.