I do not think it irresponsible to portray even the direst futures if we are to avoid them we must understand that they are possible. But where are the alternatives Where are the dreams that motivate and inspire We long for realistic maps of a world we can be proud to give to our children. Where are the cartographers of human purpose Where are the visions of hopeful futures of technology as a tool for human betterment and not a gun on hair trigger pointed at our heads
Carl Sagan
Related If we all look at life we think how nice, then we look at death and everybody goes oh you can say th... GARY F EVANS... Dreams are hopeful because they exist as pure possibility. Unlike memories, which are fossils, long ... SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON A couple of customers interrupted [...] who wanted to know if we had some YA book about ants and ali... SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON Orion is above the horizon now, and near it Jupiter, brighter than it will ever be ... But i expect ... THOMAS HARRIS We may not get to choose how we die, but we can chose how we live. The universe may for... SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON I am aware that everyone that exists has a story, and we all exist because that story is important f... ARZELL Dae FATE NAYAE Nanagha Vandhuttoom Da, Sandy , Na Nata, London Lass,Russian Grapes, Ellorum Ippa Van... SATHESH KUMAR M We are far from perfect but willing to be different. CRAIG GROESCHEL It's a lie to think that you are not good enough. It's a lie to think that you are not beautiful. It... DISON ARNIBAL The words you can’t find, you borrow. We read to know we’re not alone. We read because w... GABRIELLE ZEVIN Take me to the height where success would seek my help to succeed! I ARE I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made ... RALPH WALDO EMERSON Because you can only die once but you can suffer forever. SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON Air is approximately 21% oxygen, our brains feed off of oxygen. So basically we are all airheads. ANDONI GARCIA Inspired By Beauty In Creation We Are One DANIEL GILMAN Are shadows a shadowy reflection of the soul or is it a reflection of who we really are, or possibly... GARY F EVANS... We are this fucking stick in the end... DEYTH BANGER What will make you a star is in you SOTONYE ANGA So, tomorrow, I'm leaving. And I'm not going to let that happen again with anyone else. I'm going to... STEPHEN CHBOSKY Aliens have been here for millennium. But they didn't come in spaceships. They came in orange s... ANTHONY T. HINCKS If we're honest, most of us are doing okay. CRAIG GROESCHEL Empathy is a bridge. Our sufferings connect us. Let pain make you softer. AKIROQ BROST Outside... we are just nobody... you could meet me outside... but it doesn't mean that I am DeYtH Ba... DEYTH BANGER Come on... come on... I am waiting for answer... ... Silence doesn't make it... bet... DEYTH BANGER What, the glass is half-full instead of half-empty? Bullshit. What they don't tell you is that regar... T.J. KLUNE It's not who you are, but what you're made of. It's not where you come from, but where you're going ... CAREW PAPRITZ You are worth more than you think you are SOTONYE ANGA We are here because over billions of years, countless variables fell into place, any of which could ... WENDY MASS Food Allergies Are Not Due to Food, Rather Are Due to the Constant Contamination of That Food That Y... THEHEALTHFOODGURU I thank God for schools that are serious about the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are vital to perpetu... JAMES C. DOBSON What is the meaning of life…to give life meaning. CLIFFORD COHEN 35. God is entitled to a portion of our income—not because He needs it but because we need to give... JAMES C. DOBSON A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe", a part limited in time and space. ALBERT EINSTEIN It was pivotal in making you but you don't remember it. Or do you? Do we understand the events that ... DOUGLAS COUPLAND The first questions to be asked and answered in every contingency of life being: How will this thoug... ALDOUS HUXLEY Everyone is the Umbrella Man and he is everyone. Every cough, sneeze, smile and wave means both ever... CRAIG CLEVENGER A tiny little baby!' says Tam. 'People look at me like I'm an animal. People who don't know me judge... JON RONSON Who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we this way and not some other? What does it mean to be h... DR. CARL SAGAN To not be optimistic about the human race, would be a disregard of the power of the Spirit who creat... MARTIN SUAREZ Each of us views life through a different lens. What we think is colored by the baggage we carry, an... LAURIE BUCHANAN, PHD In periods of rapid personal change, we pass through life as though we are spellcast. We speak in se... DOUGLAS COUPLAND Every little gracious act adds to the quotient of grace in the world - how gracious can you be today... ANGIE KARAN Everything passes by, and we are left with just our memories BEN OAK Sometimes we represent our weakness as if it were bad. We don’t think it’s okay to be weak…We ... HENRY CLOUD (All the grief she had suffered over her lifetime had moulded her face into a mask of eternal sadnes... JEAN SASSON We must constantly remind ourselves that we are the image and likeness of God SOTONYE ANGA The family is the basic cell of government: it is where we are trained to believe that we are human ... GLORIA STEINEM The chakras in your body are as to galaxies on the body of God. L.J. VANIER We are responsible for ourselves and each other. RODEL NATIVIDAD CASIO We are here to create, not destroy. VIKTORIJA GRUMBLYTė I knew there was something peculiar about you," she said. "And I mean that as the highest compliment... RANSOM RIGGS The only deadly disease I have seen that is causing great harm and massacre latently yet the world h... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH If where we are now and whatever we are going through does not motivate us to leave this world bette... BAMIGBOYE OLUROTIMI The time is ripe for looking back over the day, the week, the year, and trying to figure out where w... FREDERICK BUECHNER But my convictions of where we are as a country and where we can go are so deep that I made the deci... BILL BRADLEY I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if... STEPHEN CHOBOSKY I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if... STEPHEN CHBOSKY The answer isn't more time but a greater awareness of the time we have. CRAIG GROESCHEL You certainly believe in the power of love. And throughout the series, you see how love shows itself... MOUTASEM ALGHARATI We are all human and fall short of where we need to be. We must never stop trying to be the best we ... RICHARD ADAMS You are not a bad person because you are gay. You are you because you are you and you were meant to ... TEGAN QUIN We are transitioning rapidly from a traditional manufacturing and agricultural society to a competit... MICHAEL HARRIS Most of us think we're too busy or too important to rest for a day. CRAIG GROESCHEL In a day and age where it seems like women want to be with unstable, psychotic, manipulative freaks;... C. JOYBELL C. The visions we offer our children shape the future. It _matters_ what those visions are. Often they ... CARL SAGAN If you love someone you must set them free like the wind and give them the respect they deserve.If y... GARY F EVANS... No matter how close we are to another person, few human relationships are as free from strife, disag... DEAN KOONTZ I think that we made the best decision for our school and our community. We are looking forward to b... KATHY GREEN We have lived for too long in a world, and tragically in a Church, where the wills and affections of... N.T. WRIGHT The great things in life are what they seem to be. And for that reason, strange as it may sound to y... OSCAR WILDE Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy earl... F. SCOTT FITZGERALD You often love someone not for what they are, but for what you are when you are with them. JEFFREY FRY Beauty is the light within. Only when you see the light within yourself will others see it in you. F. JOHNSON We are custodians. We are stewards. Our actions are being watched by others around us. Someone is lo... ANGIE KARAN We can surely no longer pretend that our children are growing up into a peaceful, secure, and civili... MADELEINE L'ENGLE It takes great courage to write great books. Find your courage and find your voice. KRISTEN LAMB Persistence can look a lot like stupid. KRISTEN LAMB We are at the tip of the iceberg as far as where we are and where we could be. FLIP SAUNDERS Sometimes things can take a very long time and still not be very good. It took us all of evolutionar... GINA BARRECA More than being human, we need peace and love. More than being strong and capable, we nee... NURUDEEN USHAWU I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not le... ANNE LAMOTT As artists, our primary function is not to be educators - but we are at a time in history, where for... DAVID OYELOWO All people are, at heart, egocentric. We exist at the center of our own little universes. We believe... PETER DAVID The chakras are not only vortexes of energy, they are also centers for psychic reception. They are p... CATHERINE CARRIGAN We go where the location works for our customers and our store operations. We were not lured. We go ... JOSEPH ROTH Not all of our heartless plans work as we intend; nor do all of our good intentions. We are where we... MICHELLE SAGARA WEST We're all in this together. You are not alone. All lines and divisions are artificial. We are one. W... AKIROQ BROST What Does It Matter What We Believe, as long as we treat others the way we want to be treated? JEFFREY A. WHITE You can find sorrow in the arithmetic, and you can find a bittersweet hope. DAVID LEVITHAN But I don’t want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.'Oh, you can’t help that,' said the Cat... LEWIS CARROLL Perhaps there is nothing wrong with being childish and naïve. Perhaps naivety is simply the unwilli... VIRONIKA TUGALEVA Our failures in charity are chained to a narrowed vision of the world that makes too much of the dif... REBECCA GOLDSTEIN So, I guess we are who we are for alot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even... STEPHEN CHBOSKY No question. We know where we are and where all of our competitors are. Certainly it is going to be ... KEITH ACTON You to the left and I to the right,
For the ways of men must sever--
And it may be for a day a... RICHARD HOVEY You are the architect of your life. LAILAH GIFTY AKITA We are not where we want to be yet. We are working very hard, but there are still a lot of things th... BRIAN ADKINS Whatever they grow up to be, they are still our children, and the one most important of all the thin... ROSALEEN DICKSON I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES Clearly, unless the Lord chooses to explain Himself to us, which He does not often do, His motivatio... JAMES C. DOBSON
More Carl Sagan
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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