At the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes--an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense.
Carl Sagan
Related Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowe... CARL SAGAN Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep insights can be winnowe... CARL SAGAN Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep insights can be winnowe... DR. CARL SAGAN Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowe... DR. CARL SAGAN It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most sk... CARL SAGAN It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most sk... CARL SAGAN There are many hypotheses in science which are wrong. That's perfectly all right; they're the apertu... DR. CARL SAGAN Folks seem to confuse what science is all about; it's a methodology of discovery to explain how thin... DAVID MAJOR The mere formulation of a problem is far more essential than its solution, which may be merely a mat... ALBERT EINSTEIN There is no connection between the political ideas of our educated class and the deep places of the ... LIONEL TRILLING The level of dynamism is a matter of how fertile the country is in coming up with innovative ideas h... EDMUND PHELPS Marketers know - no matter how deep the emotional connection or brand loyalty - when a product does ... MARK MCKINNON I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES In short, there are mysteries of science and of soul that will never be understood no matter how har... NEAL SHUSTERMAN No party or event is without a reason. This is how we foster new relationships, open doors, and laun... JAMES COSTOS I look into his eyes and jump… off of a high dive plunging deep into the pools of green staring ba... KATHRYN PEREZ Trouble has been brewing, but I don't think most people expected this. The pessimistic view is that ... ADRIAN GUELKE This is a difficult balance, telling the truth: how much to share, how much to keep, which truths wi... ALLY CONDIE People who read my books have an open mind when it comes to new, bizarre, interesting and exciting i... JASPER FFORDE The need to be right all the time is the biggest bar to new ideas. It is better to have enough ideas... EDWARD DE BONO Blues is the bedrock of everything I do. All the characters in my plays, their ideas and attitudes, ... AUGUST WILSON Everyone got a follower, how good or bad is all this shit, it's another topic… JUst leave it for l... DEYTH BANGER Having an open mind is the most important precondition for creating new ideas. ERALDO BANOVAC Authority in science exists to be questioned, since heresy is the spring from which new ideas flow. JOHN C. POLANYI Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity is characterised... DR ANIL KUMAR SINHA The indomitable uniqueness of our animated but enigmatic phases of individualistically lived life in... ANUJ SOMANY Openness means being able to listen to other’s ideas along with own views, even if they do not con... DR ANIL KUMAR SINHA Having an open mind is the most important precondition for creating new ideas. ERALDO BANOVAC The new radical ideas will soon be the old radical ideas. MARTY RUBIN These are ideas. I could say that they just came to me, but it would be more accurate to say that I ... DAVE SIM Our principal role as designers is to accelerate new ideas and the adoption of new ideas. YVES BEHAR To the creative individual all experience is seminal- all events are equidistant from new ideas and ... ERIC HOFFER I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being skin deep. That's deep enough. What do you want, a... JEAN KERR While it is quite reasonable for scientists to be skeptical of new ideas that do not fit within the ... STANLEY B. PRUSINER It doesn't matter how new an idea is: what matters is how new it becomes. ELIAS CANETTI All that belongs to human understanding, in this deep ignorance and obscurity, is to be skeptical, o... DAVID HUME Carl Sagan spoke fluently between biology and geology and astrophysics and physics. If you move flue... NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON Science means constantly walking a tightrope between blind faith and curiosity; between expertise an... HEINRICH ROHRER Empathy is the new measurement of everything. It doesn't matter what religion you have, what God you... C. JOYBELL C. That is very much going to be at the forefront of all the new labor negotiations, particularly with ... CARLTON CUSE Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings. STEVEN JOHNSON Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. -Carl Sa... CARL SAGAN I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What do you wa... JEAN KERR I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What do you wa... JEAN KERR The constant influx of new cultures, new ideas and new ways of looking at old problems is a big part... GARY LOCKE Physics is really figuring out how to discover new things that are counterintuitive, like quantum me... ELON MUSK New ideas inspire new life into dry old projects; they make bridges from one moment to another that ... MAICHEE SUMMER If you dig deep and keep peeling the onion, artists and freelance writers are the leaders in society... ALLAN SAVORY Although scientists can often be as resistant to new ideas as anyone, the process of science ensures... DEAN ORNISH The real truths of life are never entirely new to you or to anybody because there is a level deep do... ECKHART TOLLE We all have something we are insecure about. No matter how confident you think you may be, deep insi... DR ANIL KUMAR SINHA A work-room should be like an old shoe; no matter how shabby, it's better than a new one. WILLA CATHER When we're dealing with the people in our family - no matter how annoying or gross they may be, ... ANNE LAMOTT We are all susceptible to the pull of viral ideas. Like mass hysteria. Or a tune that gets into your... NEAL STEPHENSON Having kids is a new experience for everybody, and this is a great way to share ideas and get new id... ANNE JOHNSON I'm a science fiction author at heart, and what I like about the Cthulhu Mythos setting is that,... DAVID CONYERS Most of the fundamental ideas of science are essentially simple, and may, as a rule, be expressed in... ALBERT EINSTEIN No matter how rich or poor you are, all life will come to an halt with two types of destinations; He... CALLUM ILLMAN The birth of the search engine, it's nothing new: it's essentially embedded in our literatur... JOSHUA COHEN Let me say this as clearly as I can: No matter how sharp a grievance or how deep a hurt, there is no... WILLIAM J. CLINTON America has the highest standard of living of any major country in the entire world. To maintain and... ALEX TABARROK How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to und... J.R.R. TOLKIEN No matter how mistaken Communist ideas may be, the experience and knowledge gained by trying them ou... ANNE SULLIVAN We will liberate our country from the occupying forces and put an end to relations between Russia an... ASLAN MASKHADOV Huge trouble can come in small packages. All packages, no matter how big or small, should be given t... ANTHONY WEINER No matter how valuable you are and your ideas, fools will certainly play both of you down, so exclud... MICHAEL BASSEY JOHNSON An idea is not necessarily good because it is old, or necessarily bad because it is new, but if an o... HENRY FORD If man is to survive, he will have learned to take a delight in the essential differences between me... GENE RODDENBERRY I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being skin deep. That's deep enough. What do you... JEAN KERR No matter how deep and dark your pit, how dank your shroud, their heads are heroically unbloody and ... OGDEN NASH A new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn; for in man's heart, if n... GEORGE H. W. BUSH Most new ideas come to us not through pure logic, but through a fusion of memory and imagination. If... KILROY J. OLDSTER Most Christians are still living with an Old Testament view of their heart. Jeremiah 17:9 says, '... JOHN ELDREDGE We’re stepping into a new world, and an entire way of thinking must be changed. But the old ideas ... GAIL TSUKIYAMA When new people come into an organization, they bring new ideas and thoughts, and question long-held... LALIT PANDA Creativity and insight almost always involve an experience of acute pattern recognition: the eureka ... JASON SILVA No matter how much deep the darkness is, light will always tear it apart. REMAN BALA A liberally educated person meets new ideas with curiosity and fascination. An illiberally educated ... JAMES B. STOCKDALE A liberally educated person meets new ideas with curiosity and
fascination. An illiberally educated ... JAMES B. STOCKDALE Scientists surely have a special responsibility. It is their ideas that form the basis of new techno... MARTIN REES People with low self esteem attempt to hide their sense of inferiority behind arrogance. They preten... DR ANIL KUMAR SINHA How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to und... LORD OF THE RINGS He doesn't want to do it where he's asked questions about this by opponents, ... The nature of scien... HECTOR AVALOS Let's get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of... STEPHEN KING Look at anyone's bookcase at home, no matter how modest, and you're going to find a book tha... JONATHAN NOLAN I have the right to do my own thinking. I am going to do it. I have never met any minister that I th... ROBERT G. INGERSOLL No matter how difficult or hard it may seem, learn from it and be grateful for all of it. ROXANA JONES The essential dilemma of my life is between my deep desire to belong and my suspicion of belonging. JHUMPA LAHIRI I'm lonely. And I'm lonely in some horribly deep way and for a flash of an instant, I can see just h... AUGUSTEN BURROUGHS Deep resentment and passive dislike due to erroneous ideas are unsettling. AMITAV CHOWDHURY Essentially what's going to determine how you succeed in New York is how people feel about the s... DANNY MEYER We owe the Aboriginal peoples a debt that is four centuries old. It is their turn to become full par... ROMEO LEBLANC This just shows how deep the talent level in Funny Car is, ... No one is intimidated by John Force o... GARY SCELZI These results confirm ideas about the way in which fast-spreading oceanic crust is built. This new u... JAMIE ALLAN Why is it that, as we grow older, we are so reluctant to change? It is not so much that new ideas ar... DALE E. TURNER By doing, you become employable. It doesn't matter what the job is; by working, you learn new th... KATE REARDON There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt. AUDRE LORDE As an American, you appreciate the importance of our security alliance, the importance of the econom... JOHN ROOS It is in vain to drown a fish, no matter how deep you submerge it. MATSHONA DHLIWAYO An idea must not be condemned for being a little shy and incoherent; all new ideas are shy when intr... SAMUEL BUTLER
More Carl Sagan
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CARL SAGAN Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucke... CARL SAGAN For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however ... CARL SAGAN Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in ... CARL SAGAN It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfyi... CARL SAGAN No other planet in the solar system is a suitable home for human beings; it's this world or noth... CARL SAGAN Today, we're still loaded down - and, to some extent, embarrassed - by ancient myths, but we res... CARL SAGAN We hunger to understand, so we invent myths about how we imagine the world is constructed - and they... CARL SAGAN Can you be sure that others have not come before you and destroyed the pristine state of the native ... CARL SAGAN Humans — who enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals — have had an understand... CARL SAGAN I would suggest that science is, at least in my part, informed worship. CARL SAGAN We live on a hunk of rock and metal that circles a humdrum star that is one of 400 billion other sta... CARL SAGAN A blade of grass is a commonplace on Earth; it would be a miracle on Mars. Our descendants on Mars w... CARL SAGAN The Hindu religion is the only one of the world’s great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosm... CARL SAGAN How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, “This is better than... CARL SAGAN Think of how many religions attempt to validate themselves with prophecy. Think of how many people r... CARL SAGAN All over the world there are enormous numbers of smart, even gifted, people who harbor a passion for... CARL SAGAN Arguments from authority carry little weight – authorities have made mistakes in the past. They wi... CARL SAGAN When you're in love, you want to tell the world. My lifelong love affair with science CARL SAGAN Science is an attempt, largely successful, to understand the world, to get a grip on things, to get ... CARL SAGAN I don't think science is hard to teach because humans aren't ready for it, or because it arose only ... CARL SAGAN Christianity may be good and Satanism evil. Under the Constitution, however, both are neutral. This ... CARL SAGAN But I try not to think with my gut. If I'm serious about understanding the world, thinking with anyt... CARL SAGAN Not explaining science seems to me perverse. When you're in love, you want to tell the world. CARL SAGAN One of the reasons for its success is that science has a built-in, error-correcting machinery at its... CARL SAGAN In the way that scepticism is sometimes applied to issues of public concern, there is a tendency to ... CARL SAGAN I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudoscience and superstition will seem ye... CARL SAGAN Now, what's the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fir... CARL SAGAN I find many adults are put off when young children pose scientific questions. Why is the Moon round?... CARL SAGAN There are naive questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate ... CARL SAGAN There are wonders enough out there without our inventing any. CARL SAGAN We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and... CARL SAGAN The fact is that far more crime and child abuse has been committed by zealots in the name of God, Je... CARL SAGAN If we can't think for ourselves, if we're unwilling to question authority, then we're just putty in ... CARL SAGAN Avoidable human misery is more often caused not so much by stupidity as by ignorance, particularly o... CARL SAGAN An extraterrestrial being, newly arrived on Earth - scrutinizing what we mainly present to our child... CARL SAGAN The chief deficiency I see in the skeptical movement is its polarization: Us vs. Them — the sense ... CARL SAGAN But nature is always more subtle, more intricate, more elegant than what we are able to imagine. CARL SAGAN Books, purchasable at low cost, permit us to interrogate the past with high accuracy; to tap the wis... CARL SAGAN I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States... CARL SAGAN We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and te... CARL SAGAN We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a pre... CARL SAGAN We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows a... CARL SAGAN The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. CARL SAGAN The boundary between space and the earth is purely arbitrary. And I'll probably always be intere... CARL SAGAN If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. CARL SAGAN Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how ... CARL SAGAN For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love. CARL SAGAN The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent. CARL SAGAN The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist deep in gasoline, one with three matc... CARL SAGAN Some information is classified legitimately; as with military hardware, secrecy sometimes really is ... CARL SAGAN Understanding is a kind of ecstasy CARL SAGAN You probably don't need more weapons than what's required to destroy every city on earth. Th... CARL SAGAN The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may... CARL SAGAN Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever t... CARL SAGAN Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. CARL SAGAN The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps pr... CARL SAGAN What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on whic... CARL SAGAN You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on ... CARL SAGAN It is of interest to note that while some dolphins are reported to have learned English - up to fift... CARL SAGAN You have to know the past to understand the present. CARL SAGAN We are star stuff harvesting sunlight. CARL SAGAN Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envisio... CARL SAGAN In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my positio... CARL SAGAN A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity... CARL SAGAN Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep insights can be winnowe... CARL SAGAN One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years.... CARL SAGAN It is of interest to note that while some dolphins are reported to have learned English -- up to fif... CARL SAGAN In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bil... CARL SAGAN If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe... CARL SAGAN It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most sk... CARL SAGAN We are the representatives of the cosmos; we are an example of what hydrogen atoms can do, given 15 ... CARL SAGAN Are we an exceptionally unlikely accident or is the universe brimming over with intelligence? (It's)... CARL SAGAN When you make the finding yourself - even if you're the last person on Earth to see the light - ... CARL SAGAN We start out a million years ago in a small community on some grassy plain; we hunt animals, have ch... CARL SAGAN Black holes may be apertures to elsewhen. Were we to plunge down a black hole, we would re-emerge, i... CARL SAGAN It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out. CARL SAGAN The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all ... CARL SAGAN I don't want to believe. I want to know. CARL SAGAN In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my positio... CARL SAGAN You're an interesting species. An interesting mix. You're capable of such beautiful dreams, and such... CARL SAGAN I've written a number of books that have to do with the evolution of humans, human intelligence,... CARL SAGAN Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors. The library connects us ... CARL SAGAN The vast distances that separate the stars are providential. Beings and worlds are quarantined from ... CARL SAGAN The significance of our lives and our fragile planet is then determined only by our own wisdom and c... CARL SAGAN The sky calls to us. If we do not destroy ourselves, we will one day venture to the stars. CARL SAGAN The near side of a galaxy is tens of thousands of light-years closer to us than the far side; thus w... CARL SAGAN [When a religious couple wrote to Sagan about fulfilled prophecies, he wrote back in May 1996 ... CARL SAGAN I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering ... CARL SAGAN It is said that men may not be the dreams of the Gods, but rather that the Gods are the dreams of me... CARL SAGAN The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be. Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us ... CARL SAGAN The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ours... CARL SAGAN Ann Druyan suggests an experiment: Look back again at the pale blue dot of the preceding chapter. Ta... CARL SAGAN We are not without empathetic terror when we open Pascal's 'Pensees' and read, 'I am... CARL SAGAN We have swept through all of the planets in the solar system, from Mercury to Neptune, in a historic... CARL SAGAN The visions we offer our children shape the future. It _matters_ what those visions are. Often they ... CARL SAGAN We tend to hear much more about the splendors returned than the ships that brought them or the shipw... CARL SAGAN For me, the most ironic token of [the first human moon landing] is the plaque signed by President Ri... CARL SAGAN Cutting off fundamental, curiosity-driven science is like eating the seed corn. We may have a little... CARL SAGAN Let's see if I got this right," she would say to herself. "I've taken an inert gas that's in the air... CARL SAGAN Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless, whatever valu... CARL SAGAN I promise to question everything my leaders tell me. I promise to use my critical faculties. I promi... CARL SAGAN But, Jefferson worried that the people - and the argument goes back to Thucydides and Aristotle - ar... CARL SAGAN Nevertheless, (Jefferson) believed that the habit of skepticism is an essential prerequisite for res... CARL SAGAN An atheist is someone who is certain that God doesn't exist, someone who has compelling evidence aga... CARL SAGAN Many religions have attempted to make statues of their gods very large, and the idea, I suppose, is ... CARL SAGAN Those at too great a distance may, I am well are, mistake ignorance for perspective. CARL SAGAN It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most sk... CARL SAGAN Once we lose our fear of being tiny, we find ourselves on the threshold of a vast and awesome Univer... CARL SAGAN To live in the hearts we leave behind is to live forever. CARL SAGAN As science advances, there seems to be less and less for God to do. It's a big universe, of course, ... CARL SAGAN We have examined the universe in space and seen that we live on a mote of dust circling a humdrum st... CARL SAGAN It is said that men may not be the dreams of the god, but rather that the gods are the dreams of men... CARL SAGAN If we long for our planet to be important, there is something we can do about it. We make our world ... CARL SAGAN Every aspect of Nature reveals a deep mystery and touches our sense of wonder and awe. Those afraid ... CARL SAGAN Observation: I can't see a thing. Conclusion: Dinosaurs. CARL SAGAN We are star stuff which has taken its destiny into its own hands. CARL SAGAN Atoms are mainly empty space. Matter is composed chiefly of nothing. CARL SAGAN We inhabit a universe where atoms are made in the centers of stars; where each second a thousand sun... CARL SAGAN You are worth about 3 dollars worth in chemicals. CARL SAGAN Books are like seeds. They can lie dormant for centuries and then flower in the most unpromising soi... CARL SAGAN The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. On this shore, we've learned most of what... CARL SAGAN One glance at (a book) and you hear the voice of another person - perhaps someone dead for thousands... CARL SAGAN Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic. CARL SAGAN The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding. Lost somewhere between immen... CARL SAGAN If I finish a book a week, I will read only a few thousand books in my lifetime, about a tenth of a ... CARL SAGAN Exploration is in our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. We have lingered lo... CARL SAGAN The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. CARL SAGAN we make our world significant by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers CARL SAGAN We are a way for the cosmos to know itself. CARL SAGAN