How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, “This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?” Instead they say, “No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.” A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.
Carl Sagan
Related A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science... CARL SAGAN A religion old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science,... DR. CARL SAGAN One increasingly hears rumors of a reconciliation between science and religion. In major news magazi... SEAN CARROLL I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES They blended religion and art and science because, at base, science is no more than an investigation... RAY BRADBURY Empathy is the new measurement of everything. It doesn't matter what religion you have, what God you... C. JOYBELL C. Science is interesting... Albert Eistein has said that he believe in religion, and he has said "Scie... DEYTH BANGER 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 Is the conclusion that the universe was designed - and that the design extends deeply into life - sc... MICHAEL J. BEHE I believe that there is a Matrix and... to be more accurate I am in the Pornography Matrix. DEYTH BANGER The idea of holiness is so central to biblical teaching that it is said of God, “Holy is his name�... R.C. SPROUL No one has ever been able to discover how they make this subtle sound, and what is more, no one ever... PAUL GALLICO If God is the mystery of the universe, these mysteries, we're tackling these mysteries one by on... NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON There is no conflict between the ideal of religion and the ideal of science, but science is opposed ... NIKOLA TESLA Are you really surprised by the endurance of religion? What ideology is likely to be more durable th... SAM HARRIS If there is a God, it's going to be a whole lot bigger and a whole lot more incomprehensible tha... RICHARD DAWKINS For centuries the church has stood by while science picked away at religion bit by bit. Debunking mi... DAN BROWN 37. It is better to be single and unhappy than unhappily married. JAMES C. DOBSON The Biggest Threat to our Democracy, Freedoms and Future is Leadership that fosters and Appeases the... MICHAEL HARRIS Science ignores the spiritual realm because it is not amenable to scientific analysis. As importantl... BRUCE LIPTON Tell your story to the universe and Let your actions speak LOVE.' No matter what it is. NAPZ CHERUB PELLAZO There is no secret in attaining God. In the path of Enlightenment, any theoretical mystery-mongering... ABHIJIT NASKAR … scientific thought does not mean thought about scientific subjects with long names. There are no... WILLIAM KINGDON CLIFFORD God says in the Quran that there is only one true religion, God's religion. It's the same th... FEISAL ABDUL RAUF The religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide. RALPH WALDO EMERSON The Ancients had no religion, but instead had what could be described as a deeper knowledge of reali... LEIF ERICSSON LEO VENESS Far better it is for you to say: "I am a sinner," than to say: "I have no need of religion." The emp... FULTON J. SHEEN No one who has understood even a fraction of what science has told us about the universe can fail to... JULIAN BAGGINI As science advances, there seems to be less and less for God to do. It's a big universe, of course, ... CARL SAGAN There is a philosophy that says that if something is unobservable -- unobservable in principle -- it... LEONARD SUSSKIND Someone with a fresh mind, one not conditioned by upbringing and environment, would doubtless look a... PETER ATKINS I would say that all our sciences are the material that has to be mythologized. A mythology gives sp... JOSEPH CAMPBELL It's a most peculiar psychology—this business of 'Science is based on faith too, so there!' Typica... ELIEZER YUDKOWSKY The split between religion and science is relatively new. Isaac Newton, who first worked out the law... SETH SHOSTAK They say, love God, for it is the greatest virtue. I say, love humans, for there is no greater virtu... ABHIJIT NASKAR There is more religion in men's science, than there is science in their religion. HENRY DAVID THOREAU I believe the simplest explanation is, there is no God. No one created the universe and no one direc... STEPHEN HAWKING Arguments for atheism can be divided into two main categories: those that dispute the existence of g... CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS Science is the global civilization of which I am a citizen. The spread of its democratic ethic and i... E.O. WILSON When people ask me if a god created the universe, I tell them that the question itself makes no sens... STEPHEN HAWKING God is not glorified when we keep for ourselves (no matter how thankfully) what we ought to be using... JOHN PIPER In other words, a person who is fanatic in matters of religion, and clings to certain ideas about th... ALAN WATTS If there is any religion that could respond to the needs of modern science, it would be Buddhism. ALBERT EINSTEIN The notion that there is no basic value system is far more incoherent or invalid than the notion tha... DENNIS PRAGER No God, Religion, Race or Nation is higher than the humans. ABHIJIT NASKAR And what is that religion that sanctions, even by its silence, all that is embraced in the 'Peculiar... SOJOURNER TRUTH To me, to whom God hath revealed his Son, in a Gospel, by a Church, there can be no way of salvation... JOHN DONNE No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any govern... NOAH WEBSTER Folks seem to confuse what science is all about; it's a methodology of discovery to explain how thin... DAVID MAJOR So far as modern science is concerned, we have to abandon completely the idea that by going into the... EMILE WIECHERT Christ is our Friend; He is also the Righteous King. God is our Father; He is also the Sovereign Lor... CRISS JAMI As a religion, bilingualism is the god that failed. It has led to no fairness, produced no unity, an... STEPHEN HARPER How we understand the person and character of God the Father affects every aspect of our lives. It a... R.C. SPROUL Science is great for us. But for someone who sees the humans for more than one million years, scienc... MUDITHA CHAMPIKA Divinity is an emotion of being lifted out of yourself and being part of something much bigger than ... HOWARD BLOOM No one is better placed or more philosophically suited than Obama to construct the new counter narra... FRANK RICH Oh, plain, and easy, and simple way of salvation! wanting no subtleties of art or science, no borrow... WILLIAM LAW The Catholic chruch as threatened your life - do you not want revenge? Have you not sold your hatred... S.J. PARRIS I do not pretend to be able to prove that there is no God. I equally cannot prove that Satan is a fi... BERTRAND RUSSELL "If there is no God, then man and the universe are doomed. Like prisoners condemned to death, we ... WILLIAM LANE CRAIG Current research in any field of Science has not yet reached the point where we could start explorin... ABHIJIT NASKAR I think my proper response is complete amazement and awe at the universe that we are in, and how it ... JOHN C. MATHER It has always been fairly safe to talk about God; it is when we start to talk about men that the tro... WILLIAM BARCLAY His life seemed like a deck of cards, and in the midst of all those two’s and three’s someone ha... TEKOA MANNING Its important to understand that a legalist isn't just someone with higher standards or more rules t... C.J. MAHANEY The more that science unravels about the wonder of life and the universe, the more i am in are of it... RANYA TABARI IDLIBY Life is really about a spiritual unfolding that is personal and enchanting -- an unfolding that no s... JAMES REDFIELD One of the schools of Tlön goes so far as to negate time; it reasons that the present is indefinite... JORGE LUIS BORGES To overturn orthodoxy is no easier in science than in philosophy, religion, economics, or any of the... RUTH HUBBARD [Religious belief is] outmoded and ridiculous. [Belief in gods was a] worn out but once useful crutc... PETER ATKINS In quite recent times we seem to have entered a particularly dangerous new phase of anthropological ... EMIL BRUNNER My religion consists of a humble admiration of the unlimitable superior who reveals Himself in the s... ALBERT EINSTEIN My religion consists of a humble admiration of the unlimitable superior who reveals Himself in the s... ALBERT EINSTEIN At this time in history, there is a lot of emphasis on religion and science. There is also a growing... GREG FIELDS No injustice ever takes place in this universe. Whatsoever happens is always just and right, for the... OSHO If you say your God is bigger than mine, than you just show your religion in the name of God. VIKRANT PARSAI Religion is so much more than the god you pray to. The religion that you associate with, it's cu... AASIF MANDVI Better a little with God than a whole lot without Him. Better to have fewer houses, cars, appliances... CRAIG GROESCHEL Religion is not something that you or I can touch. Religion is the worship of God—therefore a matt... MATTHEW KELLY If the universe does consist of a battle between the devil and God, the final analysis should conclu... STEVE MARABOLI our civil rights have no dependance on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics... THOMAS JEFFERSON It was my science that drove me to the conclusion that the world is much more complicated than can b... ALLAN REX SANDAGE One of my greatest difficulties in consenting to think of religion was that I thought I should have ... GEORGE MACDONALD I have no patience with the doctrine of pure science, that science is science only when it is uncont... LIBERTY HYDE BAILEY There is no religion better than love, no color better than the color of happiness and no language b... ABHIJIT NASKAR Monotheism generally allows for no greys. Ideas are either true or false. Hence, although science de... JORDAN D. PAPER I believe the universe is governed by the laws of science. The laws may have been decreed by God, bu... STEPHEN HAWKING As a citizen of the world, I will not confine myself within the gates of one nation or religion. I w... SUZY KASSEM Science has become something that everybody knows he has to pay attention to, but not everybody is a... CHEN-NING YANG We place no reliance on virgin or pidgeon.Our method is science, our aim is religion. ALEISTER CROWLEY The universe has a much greater imagination than we do, which is why the real story of the universe ... LAWRENCE M. KRAUSS To stand on the brink of what is coming, feeling eager, optimistic anticipation—with no feeli... ASK AND IT IS GIVEN Every religion is right. The current state of matter is the deciding factor for whether or not a rel... STEVE BULLOCK But in the end, science does not provide the answers most of us require. Its story of our origins an... NEIL POSTMAN Life is not a game. Still, in this life, we choose the games we live to play. J.R. RIM The modern habit of saying "This is my opinion, but I may be wrong" is entirely irrational. If I say... G.K. CHESTERTON Commemoration of Cecilia, Martyr at Rome, c.230 Commemoration of Clive Staples Lewis, Spiritual Writ... C. S. LEWIS A second point that caught my attention was that the very persons who insist upon keeping religion a... PHILLIP E. JOHNSON In the world union, prosperity is a science, self-interest a new religion, peace is at hand and the ... B. BARMANBEK But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the p... BIBLE
More Carl Sagan
There is a wide, yawning black infinity. In every direction, the extension is endless; the sensation... CARL SAGAN But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniu... CARL SAGAN In our obscurity - in all this vastness - there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to sav... CARL SAGAN Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. CARL SAGAN The dangers of not thinking clearly are much greater now than ever before. It's not that there... CARL SAGAN The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition. CARL SAGAN Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception. CARL SAGAN If it can be destroyed by the truth, it deserves to be destroyed by the truth. CARL SAGAN It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected fi... CARL SAGAN Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires int... 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CARL SAGAN A central lesson of science is that to understand complex issues (or even simple ones), we must try ... CARL SAGAN In our time, we have sifted the sands of Mars, we have established a presence there, we have fulfill... CARL SAGAN The significance of a finding that there are other beings who share this universe with us would be a... CARL SAGAN For the first time, we have the power to decide the fate of our planet and ourselves, ... This is a ... CARL SAGAN Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. CARL SAGAN Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. -Carl Sa... CARL SAGAN We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and techno... CARL SAGAN Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it, we go nowhere. 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CARL SAGAN But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geni... CARL SAGAN I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudo-science and superstition will seem y... CARL SAGAN I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever ... CARL SAGAN I am often amazed at how much more capability and enthusiasm for science there is among elementary s... CARL SAGAN Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowe... CARL SAGAN It's been said that astronomy is a humbling and, I might add, a character-building experience. CARL SAGAN Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. CARL SAGAN The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous. CARL SAGAN Even these stars, which seem so numerous, are as sand, as dust - or less than dust - in the enormity... 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 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 At the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes--an op... 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