Authors:

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Carl Sagan Quotes - Page 12

All Quotes Acceptance Age Art Astronomy Atheism Atheist Authority Awareness Balance Belief Challenges Character Childhood Children Church Community Compassion Consciousness Creation Criticism Culture Curiosity Darkness Death Doubt Earth Education Enthusiasm Evidence Evolution Giving God Greek Heart History Home Humanity Humility Ignorance Imagination Injury Inspirational Judging Knowledge Learning Life Lifetime Love Loyalty Lying Magic Mathematics Memories Moon Morning Motivation Motivational Nature Observation Opportunity Pain Passion Past Perspective Philosophy Physics Prejudice Purpose Reading Reality Rejection Religion Responsibility Risk Romance Running Science Science And Technology Spirituality Spring Stupidity Survival Teaching Technology Time Today Truth Understanding Universe Vision Waiting War Water Weakness Winter Writing

Present global culture is a kind of arrogant newcomer. It arrives on the planetary stage following four and a half billion years of other acts, and after looking about for a few thousand years declares itself in

Present global culture is a kind of arrogant newcomer. It arrives on the planetary stage following four and a half billion years of other acts, and after looking about for a few thousand years declares itself in possession of eternal truths. But in a world that is changing as fast as ours, this is a prescription for disaster. No nation, no religion, no economic system, no body of knowledge, is likely to have all the answers for our survival. There must be many social systems that would work far better than any now in existence. In the scientific tradition, our task is to find them.

Years, Survival, Answers

You're an interesting species, an interesting mix. You're capable of such beautiful dreams and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you're not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other.

Beautiful, Dream, Cutting

It seems madness to say, 'We're worried that they're going to become addicted to marijuana' -- there's no evidence whatever that it's an addictive drug, but even if it were, these people are dying, what are we saving them from?

Marijuana, People, Drug

The open road still softly calls, like a nearly forgotten song of childhood

Song, Childhood, Forgotten

Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan (2011). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, p.15, Ballantine Books

The illegality of cannabis is outrageous.

Cannabis, Outrageous

"Mr. X". Essay by Carl Sagan, hermiene.net. 1969.

A central lesson of science is that to understand complex issues (or even simple ones), we must try to free our minds of dogma and to guarantee the freedom to publish, to contradict, and to experiment. Arguments from authority are unacceptable.

Freedom, Science, Simple

Carl Sagan (2011). “Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium”, p.176, Ballantine Books

Religions are often state-protected nurseries of pseudoscience, although there's no reason why religions have to play that role. In a way, it's an artefact from times long gone.

Play, Nurse, Long

Carl Sagan (2011). “The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.15, Ballantine Books

Those who seek power at any price detect a societal weakness, a fear that they can ride into office.

Office, Weakness

Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.518, Ballantine Books

The visions we offer our children shape the future.

Children, Vision, Shapes

Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan (2011). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, p.90, Ballantine Books

I believe that the extraordinary should be pursued. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Believe, Science, Claims

Carl Sagan (2011). “Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science”, p.73, Ballantine Books

Extraordinary observations require extraordinary evidence to make them believable.

Observation, Evidence, Extraordinary

Absolute certainty will always elude us. We will always be mired in error. The most each generation can hope for is to reduce the error. . . .

Errors, Elude Us, Generations

Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.52, Ballantine Books

Too much openness and you accept every notion, idea, and hypothesis-which is tantamount to knowing nothing. Too much skepticism-especially rejection of new ideas before they are adequately tested-and you're not only unpleasantly grumpy, but also closed to the advance of science. A judicious mix is what we need.

Knowledge, Acceptance, Science

Personally, I would be delighted if there were a life after death, especially if it permitted me to continue to learn about this world and others, if it gave me a chance to discover how history turns out.

Death, History, Would Be

Carl Sagan (2011). “Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science”, p.355, Ballantine Books

If we do not speak for Earth, who will? If we are not committed to our own survival, who will be?

Survival, Earth, Speak

Carl Sagan (2011). “Cosmos”, p.349, Ballantine Books

A blade of grass is a commonplace on Earth; it would be a miracle on Mars. Our descendants on Mars will know the value of a patch of green. And if a blade of grass is priceless, what is the value of a human being?

Miracle, Would Be, Mars

Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan (2011). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, p.309, Ballantine Books

There are huge advertising budgets only when there's no difference between the products. If the products really were different, people would buy the one that's better. Advertising teaches people not to trust their judgment. Advertising teaches people to be stupid.

Stupid, Differences, People

Carl Sagan (2016). “Contact”, p.225, Simon and Schuster

Science is much more than a body of knowledge. It is a way of thinking. This is central to its success. Science invites us to let the facts in, even when they don't conform to our preconceptions. It counsels us to carry alternative hypotheses in our heads and see which ones best match the facts. It urges on us a fine balance between no-holds-barred openness to new ideas, however heretical, and the most rigorous skeptical scrutiny of everything - new ideas and established wisdom.

Thinking, Ideas, Balance

"Why We Need To Understand Science" by Carl Sagan, The Skeptical Inquirer, Volume 14, Issue 3, www.csicop.org. Spring 1990.

If chimpanzees have consciousness, if they are capable of abstractions, do they not have what until now has been described as 'human rights'? How smart does a chimp have to be before killing him constitutes murder?

Smart, Animal, Rights

Carl Sagan (2012). “Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence”, p.126, Ballantine Books

I believe our future depends powerfully on how well we understand this cosmos in which we float, like a mote of dust in the morning sky.

Morning, Believe, Dust

"Cosmos: A Personal Voyage". Book by Carl Sagan, p. 4, 1980.

In Mozambique, the story goes, monkeys do not talk, because they know if they utter even a single word some man will come and put them to work.

Men, Mozambique, Stories

Carl Sagan (2016). “Contact”, p.313, Simon and Schuster

If some good evidence for life after death were announced, I'd be eager to examine it; but it would have to be real scientific data, not mere anecdote. As with the face on Mars and alien abductions, better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy.

Atheist, Real, Data

Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.263, Ballantine Books

For all our failings, despite our limitations and fallibilities, we humans are capable of greatness.

Greatness, Failing, Fallibility

Carl Sagan (1994). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, Random House Incorporated

Except for fools and madmen, everyone knows that nuclear war would he an unprecedented human catastrophe.

War, Nuclear, Fool

The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding. Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home.

Home, Science, Understanding

Carl Sagan (2011). “Cosmos”, p.25, Ballantine Books

You May Also Like: