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Carl Sagan Quotes - Page 21

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The Platonists and their Christian successors held the peculiar notion that the Earth was tainted and somehow nasty, while the heavens were perfect and divine. The fundamental idea that the Earth is a planet, that we

The Platonists and their Christian successors held the peculiar notion that the Earth was tainted and somehow nasty, while the heavens were perfect and divine. The fundamental idea that the Earth is a planet, that we are citizens of the Universe, was rejected and forgotten.

Christian, Ideas, Perfect

Carl Sagan (2011). “Cosmos”, p.212, Ballantine Books

In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken..."

Change, Science, Theoretical Physics

Keynote address at CSICOP conference, 1987.

Is it fair to be suspicious of an entire profession because of a few bad apples? There are at least two important differences, it seems to me. First, no one doubts that science actually works, whatever mistaken and fraudulent claim may from time to time be offered. But whether there are any miraculous cures from faith-healing, beyond the body's own ability to cure itself, is very much at issue. Secondly, the expose' of fraud and error in science is made almost exclusively by science. But the exposure of fraud and error in faith-healing is almost never done by other faith-healers.

Atheist, Healing, Issues

Any faith that admires truth, that strives to know God, must be brave enough to accommodate the universe.

Brave, Enough, Strive

Carl Sagan (1997). “Contact”, p.420, Simon and Schuster

UFOs: The reliable cases are uninteresting and in the interesting cases are unreliable.

Interesting, Cases, Ufo

At the extremes it is difficult to distinguish pseudoscience from rigid, doctrinaire religion.

Atheist, Religion, Pseudoscience

Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.41, Ballantine Books

Science is more than a body of knowledge. It's a way of thinking: a way of skeptically interrogating the universe.

Thinking, Body, Way

Carl Sagan, Tom Head (2006). “Conversations with Carl Sagan”, p.143, Univ. Press of Mississippi

You're capable of such beautiful dreams and such horrible nightmares.

Beautiful, Dream, Nightmare

"Fictional character: Alien". "Contact", www.imdb.com. 1997.

Human history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group.

Groups, Cosmos, Awareness

Carl Sagan (2011). “Cosmos”, p.371, Ballantine Books

We invest far off places with a certain romance... Long summers, mild winters, rich harvests, plentiful game; none of them lasts for ever. Your own life, or your bands, or even your species - might be owed to a restless few, drawn by a craving they can hardly articulate or understand, to undiscovered lands, and new worlds.

Summer, Winter, Land

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

There are more potential combinations of DNA [physical forms] than there are atoms in the universe.

Dna, Atoms, Form

What began in deadly competition has helped us to see that global cooperation is the essential precondition for our survival. Travel is broadening. It's time to hit the road again.

Competition, Survival, Essentials

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

If all the suns but ours collapsed tonight, how many lifetimes would it take us to realize that we were alone?

Tonight, Sun, Realizing

Science is a collaborative enterprise, spanning the generations. When it permits us to see the far side of some new horizon, we remember those who prepared the way - seeing for them also.

New Horizons, Generations, Way

I never said it. Honest. Oh, I said there are maybe 100 billion galaxies and 10 billion trillion stars. It's hard to talk about the Cosmos without using big numbers. I said "billion" many times on the Cosmos television series, which was seen by a great many people. But I never said "billions and billions." For one thing, it's too imprecise. How many billions are "billions and billions"? A few billion? Twenty billion? A hundred billion? "Billions and billions" is pretty vague. When we reconfigured and updated the series, I checked-and sure enough, I never said it.

Stars, Numbers, People

"Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium". Book by Carl Sagan, 1997.

My fundamental premise about the brain is that its workings - what we sometimes call "mind" - are a consequence of its anatomy and physiology, and nothing more.

Anatomy And Physiology, Brain, Mind

Carl Sagan (2012). “Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence”, p.7, Ballantine Books

Goddard represented a unique combination of visionary dedication and technological brilliance. He studied physics because he needed physics to get to Mars. In reading the notebooks of Robert Goddard, I am struck by how powerful his exploratory and scientific motivations were - and how influental speculative ideas, even erroneous ones, can be on the shaping of the future.

Notebook, Motivation, Powerful

Carl Sagan (1979). “Broca's brain: reflections on the romance of science”, Random House Inc

Thus the recent rapid evolution of human intelligence is not only the cause of but also the only conceivable solution to the many serious problems that beset us.

Causes, Serious, Evolution

Carl Sagan (2012). “Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence”, p.4, Ballantine Books

Whatever the reason you're on Mars, I'm glad you're there, and I wish I was with you.

Wish, Mars, Reason

Accommodation to change, the thoughtful pursuit of alternative futures are keys to the survival of civilization and perhaps of the human species.

Thoughtful, Keys, Civilization

Carl Sagan (2011). “Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science”, p.172, Ballantine Books

The hole in the ozone layer is a kind of skywriting. At first it seemed to spell out our continuing complacency before a witch's brew of deadly perils. But perhaps it really tells of a newfound talent to work together to protect the global environment.

Ozone Layer, Together, Layers

Both the Freudian and the Platonic metaphors emphasize the considerable independence of and tension among the constituent parts of the psyche, a point that characterizes the human condition.

Psychology, Independence, Metaphor

Carl Sagan (2012). “Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence”, p.83, Ballantine Books

Modern Darwinism makes it abundantly clear that many less ruthless traits, some not always admired by robber barons and Fuhrers - altruism, general intelligence, compassion - may be the key to survival.

Life, Compassion, Keys

A multitude of aspects of the natural world that were considered miraculous only a few generations ago are now thoroughly understood in terms of physics and chemistry.

Religion, Generations, World

Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.347, Ballantine Books

One of the great commandments of science is, 'Mistrust arguments from authority'. (Scientists, being primates, and thus given to dominance hierarchies, of course do not always follow this commandment.)

Hierarchy, Dominance, Argument

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

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