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 about Atheist

All Carl Sagan Quotes Acceptance Age Art Astronomy Atheism Atheist quotes 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

You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe

You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe

Death, Faith, Atheist

Where we have strong emotions, we're liable to fool ourselves.

Happiness, Strong, Atheist

It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

Death, Witty, Atheist

Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.32, Ballantine Books

Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication, and courage. But if we don't practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us --- and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along.

Atheist, Ocean, Dedication

An atheist is someone who is certain that God does not exist, someone who has compelling evidence against the existence of God. I know of no such compelling evidence. Because God can be relegated to remote times and places and to ultimate causes, we would have to know a great deal more about the universe than we do now to be sure that no such God exists. To be certain of the existence of God and to be certain of the nonexistence of God seem to me to be the confident extremes in a subject so riddled with doubt and uncertainty as to inspire very little confidence indeed.

Atheist, Inspire, Doubt

"Conversations with Carl Sagan". Book edited by Tom Head, p. 70, 2006.

We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good.

Inspirational, Motivational, Atheist

"President Obama Quotes Carl Sagan at Rutgers: 'Embrace What is True Rather Than What Feels Good'" by Hemant Mehta, www.patheos.com. May 15, 2016.

An atheist has to know a lot more than I know. An atheist is someone who knows there is no god. By some definitions atheism is very stupid.

Atheist, Agnostic, There Is No God

"A Tribute to Carl Sagan: The Sagan File" by Joel Achenbach, The Skeptic Magazine, Vol 13, No. 1, www.skeptic.com. 2006.

We should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit.

Atheist, Children, Teaching

Carl Sagan (2011). “The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.434, Ballantine Books

Life is but a momentary glimpse of the wonder of this astonishing universe, and it is sad to see so many dreaming it away on spiritual fantasy.

Dream, Spiritual, Atheist

I am not an atheist. An atheist is someone who has compelling evidence that there is no Judeo-Christian-Islamic God. I am not that wise, but neither do I consider there to be anything approaching adequate evidence for such a god. Why are you in such a hurry to make up your mind? Why not simply wait until there is compelling evidence?

Christian, Wise, Atheist

A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism.

Atheist, Science, Ideas

"Contact". Book by Carl Sagan. Chapter 14, p. 244, 1985.

The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard, who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by 'God,' one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying... it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity.

Atheist, Fall, Mean

"Scientists & Their Gods". U.S. News & World Report, Vol. 111, 1991.

Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works.

Education, Atheist, Thinking

Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.430, Ballantine Books

Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.

Atheist, Mean, Science

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

If you want to save your child from polio, you can pray or you can inoculate....Try science.

Atheist, Children, Religion

In many cultures it is customary to answer that God created the universe out of nothing. But this is mere temporizing. If we wish courageously to pursue the question, we must, of course ask next where God comes from? And if we decide this to be unanswerable, why not save a step and conclude that the universe has always existed?

Atheist, Religion, Wish

Advances in medicine and agriculture have saved vastly more lives than have been lost in all the wars in history.

Atheist, War, Science

Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.31, Ballantine Books

If we say that God has always been, why not save a step and conclude that the universe has always been?

Inspirational, Motivational, Atheist

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

The Romans called the Christians atheists. Why? Well, the Christians had a god of sorts, but it wasn't a real god. They didn't believe in the divinity of apotheosized emperors or Olympian gods. They had a peculiar, different kind of god. So it was very easy to call people who believed in a different kind of god atheists. And that general sense that an atheist is anybody who doesn't believe exactly as I do prevails in our own time.

Christian, Atheist, Real

An atheist is someone who is certain that God does not exist, someone who has compelling evidence against the existence of God. I know of no such compelling evidence.

Atheist, Doe, Certain

Carl Sagan, Tom Head (2006). “Conversations with Carl Sagan”, p.70, Univ. Press of Mississippi

In Italy, the Inquisition was condemning people to death until the end of the eighteenth century, and inquisitional torture was not abolished in the Catholic Church until 1816. The last bastion of support for the reality of witchcraft and the necessity of punishment has been the Christian churches.

Christian, Atheist, Reality

Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.528, Ballantine Books

I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true.

Atheist, Science, Religion

It means nothing to be open to a proposition we don't understand.

Atheist, Mean, Religion

Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.393, Ballantine Books

I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But as much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking.

Atheist, Believe, Thinking

Carl Sagan (2011). “Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium”, p.245, Ballantine Books

You May Also Like: