There is something infantile in the presumption that somebody else has a responsibility to give your life meaning and point… The truly adult view, by contrast, is that our life is as meaningful, as full and as wonderful as we choose to make it.

Dawkins contrasts a childlike expectation of externally bestowed purpose—typically from religion, fate, or society—with an “adult” acceptance that meaning is self-authored. The quote frames existential responsibility as empowering rather than bleak: if the universe offers no built-in telos, individuals and communities can still create rich lives through chosen projects, relationships, curiosity, and ethical commitments. It also functions as a rebuttal to the claim that atheism entails nihilism, arguing instead that meaning is not discovered as a cosmic gift but constructed through human agency. The rhetoric (“infantile” vs. “adult”) sharpens the moral-psychological critique of dependence on external authority for life’s point.