People are not stupid. They believe things for reasons. The last way for skeptics to get the attention of bright, curious, intelligent people is to belittle or condescend or to show arrogance toward their beliefs.
Carl Sagan
Related To be, or not to be, that is the question. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE To be or not to be. That's not really a question. JEAN-LUC GODARD Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistak... EMMETT F. FIELDS Smart people believe weird things because they are skilled at defending beliefs they arrived at for ... MICHAEL SHERMER Do I have the courage of being a ruthless man to myself with the complete knowledge on my manner or ... FEREIDOON YAZDI The difference between stupid and intelligent people -- and this is true whether or not they are wel... NEAL STEPHENSON The difference between stupid and intelligent people - and this is true whether or not they are well... NEAL STEPHENSON Nell," the Constable continued, indicating through his tone of voice that the lesson was concluding,... NEAL STEPHENSON To be or not to be is not a question of compromise. Either you be or you don't be. GOLDA MEIR To be mad is worse than not to be if this is what it is. JOHNNY RICH Hamlet's Cat's Soliloquy "To go outside, and there perchance to stay Or to re... HENRY N. BEARD To be or not to be isn't the question. The question is how to prolong being. TOM ROBBINS Congratulations, to the people which made gotham series, still need some more and extra work! DEYTH BANGER Intelligent people know they are intelligent. They also know that one person cannot know all, hence ... LYNSAY SANDS How should I know?" said Alice, surprised at her own courage. "It's no business of mine." The Q... LEWIS CARROLL To have the cognitive abilities to do research and development is vital to a forever expanding world... GARY F EVANS... Some read to learn, some to laugh, and some to live. JOYCE RACHELLE The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it. But if you break it, a surpr... C.S. LEWIS People don't show up here (at the courtroom) because they believe evolution is bad science. They sho... EUGENIE SCOTT People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because peop... TERRY GOODKIND I have great respect for people's right to believe what they want to believe. And I don't th... COLIN KAEPERNICK Everyone lies to themselves, but many people do it with good intentions. They want to believe what t... ASHLY LORENZANA Too easy to get = Just as easy to forget. MANDY HALE The love you get, is equal to the love you give. BEN OAK People believe, thought Shadow. It's what people do. They believe, and then they do not take respons... NEIL GAIMAN May I never neither turn left nor turn right in my journey of life, but may I go straight to Christ ... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH Only after the last tree has been cut down,only after the last river has been poisoned,only after th... THE CREE PEOPLE Five billion people have played Hamlet. 'To be or not to be.' And how do you do that and fin... ANNETTE BENING People are intelligent; it is their ideas that are stupid. MARTY RUBIN I know that David Tennant's Hamlet isn't till July. And lots of people are going to be doing Dr Who ... NEIL GAIMAN Among the enduring truths I keep bumping into when there is the luxury of time to get to know people... KEN AULETTA Most of us think we're too busy or too important to rest for a day. CRAIG GROESCHEL I don't define lust as anything evil or nasty. Lust as defined by me, is the feeling of desire: a de... C. JOYBELL C. I decided to use black-and-white for the film, because that is the image of adolescence to me. We se... FERNANDO EIMBCKE The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition. . -Carl Sagan. CARL SAGAN Some skeptics believe religious people are religious because they fear Hell. It's about as fair as s... CRISS JAMI The difference between ignorant and educated people is that the latter know more facts. But that has... NEAL STEPHENSON If you want to marry me, here's what you'll have to do: You must learn how to make a perfect ch... SHEL SILVERSTEIN We are preparing to address the health care needs of the people here. There are people who have perh... KIRK WILLIAMS I'm actually very collaborative if people are intelligent and they're not talking about stupid thing... CHARLES ROVEN Have honor and respect, and always keep your word. Your word is sacred. What you say and what you do... NICOLE SHURRI HASTINGS Friendship is a double-edged sword one side it can be great and true but the other side it spells be... GARY F EVANS... workin' day and night, slavin' so hard you barely have time to catch your breath. People do that for... NICHOLAS SPARKS I want Carl Sagan to explain the sky to me. WHOOPI GOLDBERG The fear of God is the only cure for the fear of people. CRAIG GROESCHEL We've kind of been on the more melodic page for the last few years now. For anybody that knows the b... JAMES HART We've kind of been on the more melodic page for the last few years now. For anybody that knows the b... JAMES HART To date or not to date that is the question. It's almost as important as Shakespeare's to be... AL GOLDSTEIN People are stupid. They will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they a... TERRY GOODKIND When curiosity drives you, discoveries will line your path SOTONYE ANGA By the way, I'm not a vegetarian. I have a lot of respect for people who are vegetarian for reli... ERIC SCHLOSSER Sometimes people don't dare to speak up for the right or wrong because they are just too much comfor... PRAVIN PRAJAPATI For all their expertise at figuring out how things work, technical people are often painfully aware ... GARY WOLF The people that are doing these things are not stupid or angst-driven teenagers. DEAN TURNER The market is still waiting for HSBC results, which will have a big impact on the direction of the m... ANDREW TO Property shares had a technical rebound, but interest rate concerns will still affect properties unt... ANDREW TO Bank of China's results were quite good; double-digit growth can be taken as good results for a bank... ANDREW TO The index tried to challenge 18,000 but failed, so that triggered profit taking. Tokyo's slide also ... ANDREW TO Trading seems to be focusing on selective counters because investors are cautious amid interest rate... ANDREW TO We're seeing a minor technical rebound after Wall Street rebounded from two days of losses. The key ... ANDREW TO Some investors have returned to pick up the stock at bargain prices. ANDREW TO I think the take-up for the placement is not too good and other property developers may be discourag... ANDREW TO We are afraid that our freedoms and liberties will be infringed in the future. ANDREW TO I think there was some minor selling pressure on telecom stocks as the market continued to see a wea... ANDREW TO Men may believe what they cannot prove. They may not be put to the proof of their religious doctrine... WILLIAM ORVILLE DOUGLAS People don't do things for you or against you, they do things for themselves - it's fortune, good or... BARRY SWITZER you cannot shame or belittle people into changing their behavior BRENé BROWN But people don't change their beliefs easily. Even when their deepest convictions are challenged - b... LOUIS THEROUX Most people I meet are stupid. Now, nobody likes to be labeled as stupid because they don’t want t... ROBIN SACREDFIRE Yes! Very funny this terrible thing is. A man that is born falls into a dream like a man who falls i... JOSEPH CONRAD I been watchin' you, workin day and night, slavin so hard you barely have time to catch your breath.... NICHOLAS SPARKS The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than bl... ALICE WALKER An idea isn't responsible for the people who believe in it. DON MARQUIS If God give you strength and courage, don't use it to intimidate people or overpower them, rather us... ANTHONY LICCIONE People get into routines of being unkind to themselves or saying they are stupid or an idiot, that t... KAREN STEINBERG Policy, for the most part, has been made by white people in America, not by people of color. And the... MAXINE WATERS I get particularly depressed by the way teenagers are portrayed in the media. They are massively und... JAMEELA JAMIL The most intelligent people disguise the fact that they are intelligent. Wise men do not wear nameta... NISIOISIN I imagine that the intelligent people are the ones so intelligent that they don't even need or want ... CRISS JAMI Challenge a person's beliefs, and you challenge his dignity, standing, and power. And when those bel... STEVEN PINKER They (parents) want life to unfold according to what they believe. Most people want that. The last t... LUKASZ LANIECKI The animals of the world exist
for their own reasons. They were
not made for humans any more
than... ALICE WALKER Really intelligent people are clever enough to appear stupid RAPHAEL KSOBIECH Older people long for the ability to share their knowledge ... of family, of experience, both practi... GAIL SATLER The first and foremost human right or fundamental right is the right to exist. APURVA GAGLANI If we ever put research into what the subconscious is we could probably come to the conclusion that ... GARY F EVANS... i know im not the girl you wanted. not the one you want to hear from. but what you see is what you g... SIMI GREWAL For one to expect or ask things of others that he himself, if asked, would not be willing to do or g... ANTHONY BEAL Whether people want to do business or sell things online, reach new people and be found, showcase th... DAVID RUSENKO Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. -Carl Sa... CARL SAGAN This is a great way for the Stanly County agencies to show people the hard work they do for our comm... JENNIFER MOXLEY Men do not have to cook their food; they do so for symbolic reasons to show they are men and not bea... EDMUND LEACH Men do not have to cook their food; they do so for symbolic reasons to show they are men and not bea... EDMUND LEACH The compassionate person does not require other people to be stupid, in order to be intelligent. The... JEAN-YVES LELOUP I think there is a tendency for people to get rigid and caught up in their beliefs of what is right ... MATISYAHU Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out. JOHN WOODEN All the great people learn from the people before them. Chris took one approach and did things the w... AARON GRAY If there are rules designed to limit drinking, people will just drink somewhere else before they com... TOM HAMILTON ...in a brutal country like ours where human life is cheap, it's stupid to destroy yourself for the ... ORHAN PAMUK Stupids enjoy life the most for they can never realize the value of the precious things lost & the l... ANUJ SOMANY
More Carl Sagan
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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 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... 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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