12 Quotes by Peter Atkins

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.

If the elements are the alphabets of chemistry, then the compounds are its plays, its poems, and its novels.

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.

Any argument that asserts that ‘God did it’ is a sign of a lazy mind.

Truth is not arrived at by majority vote.

I regard teaching religion as purveying lies.

Science is almost totally incompatible with religion.

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.

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