We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.
Carl Sagan
Related We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and... CARL SAGAN We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a pre... CARL SAGAN We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and te... CARL SAGAN We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and techno... CARL SAGAN We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and techno... DR. CARL SAGAN Science is the knowledge of consequences, and dependence of one fact upon another. •Thomas Hobbe... THOMAS HOBBES We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows a... CARL SAGAN We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows a... CARL SAGAN We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows a... DR. CARL SAGAN It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one th... MURRAY N. ROTHBARD Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. -Carl Sa... CARL SAGAN These philosophically fun ideas usually satisfy nobody. Nonetheless, they remind us that ignorance i... NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON Religion asks you to believe things without questioning, and technology and science always encourage... VINOD KHOSLA Something is wrong that we have to feed so many. Why should there be poverty with all of our science... CORETTA SCOTT KING In the 1970s, we had Carl Sagan, and he was so suave with his turtleneck and his tweed jacket. And h... GREG GRAFFIN You can change dynamic elements and layout so not only does one person get a unique offering but it'... SHAR VANBOSKIRK Based on the experience of history and civilization of mankind, which is more important for Muslims ... BACHARUDDIN JUSUF HABIBIE It is baffling, I must say, that in our modern world we have such blind trust in science and technol... PRINCE CHARLES Getting enough energy to satisfy the needs of the developing world without bringing on an eco-disast... BURTON RICHTER All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single lar... CARL SAGAN I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent. My main purpose in life is to make money ... THOMAS ALVA EDISON Someday man will harness the rise and fall of the tides, imprison the power of the sun, and release ... THOMAS ALVA EDISON I believe that the science of chemistry alone almost proves the existence of an intelligent creator. THOMAS ALVA EDISON I never pick up an item without thinking of how I might improve it. I never perfected an invention t... THOMAS ALVA EDISON What hath God wrought? SAMUEL F. B. MORSE Of all my inventions, I liked the phonograph best. Life's most soothing things are sweet music and a... THOMAS ALVA EDISON What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a w... HERBERT SIMON The typewriting machine, when played with expression, is no more annoying than the piano when played... OSCAR WILDE Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of gen... E. F. SCHUMACKER The system of nature, of which man is a part, tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-clean... E. F. SCHUMACHER The machine does not isolate man from the great problems of nature but plunges him more deeply into ... ANTOINE DE SAINT Definition of Statistics: The science of producing unreliable facts from reliable figures. EVAN ESAR I never did anything worth doing entirely by accident and none of my inventions came about totally b... THOMAS ALVA EDISON Each year, it seems, larger and more daunting mountains of text rise from the lush lowlands of visua... CALVIN TOMKINS Technology... is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the bac... CARRIE P. SNOW The cell phone has transformed public places into giant phone-a-thons in which callers exist within ... MARY SCHMICH The most obvious characteristic of science is its application: the fact that, as a consequence of sc... RICHARD P. FEYNMAN We have believed for a long, long time that the preparation for science engineering, math technology... ALBERT MCHENRY We support leading scientists who make concrete and crucial contributions to the innovation of scien... LU YONGXIANG I'm a big technology individual. I love science and technology, and anything that has to do with... CHARLES FLEISCHER This is a really big space station. We do a lot of various kinds of work here, different kinds of sc... SCOTT KELLY This is new technology, ... It's going to take a while for the industry to get comfortable with it. BILL AHO We basically have a crisis in this country with not enough of our own homegrown talent taking up sci... MADELEINE JACOBS Most of us think we're too busy or too important to rest for a day. CRAIG GROESCHEL 35. God is entitled to a portion of our income—not because He needs it but because we need to give... JAMES C. DOBSON Our plan is to have the most outstanding science exhibit around human life and the technology that s... IOANNIS MIAOULIS Science and technology are the keys to both our longevity and our demise. Our entire existence on th... RHYS DARBY We must not confuse religion with God, or technology with science. Religion stands in relationship t... ROBERT WINSTON Technology is working and part of it is why the rest of the market is not working. The brick-and-mor... DENNIS MCKECHNIE Space technology can and does fail on occasions. Our feeling is that as you escalate the number of t... BRUCE GAGNON History is a wheel, for the nature of man is fundamentally unchanging. What has happened before will... GEORGE R.R. MARTIN One of the most interesting things about science fiction and fantasy is the way that the genres can ... TANSY RAYNER ROBERTS And I have lived since - as you have - in a period of cold war, during which we have ensured by our ... LESTER B. PEARSON I think this adenovirus technology is like the electric car. We all know that sooner or later we wil... ANDREA GAMBOTTO It is a lie. ARTHUR MILLER In science and technology we learn everything from our seniors but in life we fail to learn from the... KOWSALAPATHY The only solid piece of scientific truth about which I feel totally confident is that we are profoun... LEWIS THOMAS Starting early and getting girls on computers, tinkering and playing with technology, games and new ... BETH SIMONE NOVECK But while doing that I'd been following a variety of fields in science and technology, including... K. ERIC DREXLER We are teaching real science that is standards based, but we are letting the students have the exper... CALEB M. SCHUTZ It is the last process in embedding our technology on a single chip for our set-top boxes. It is not... HENRY NICHOLAS It's important for kids to realize science can be both fun and creative. This really is one exhibit ... JENNIFER FARRINGTON One of the things that technology might get us is a number of seconds warning that the quake has alr... KATE HUTTON The disturbing truth about science communication is that we have theories and ways of delivering mes... KYLE HILL And as we continue to improve our understanding of the basic science on which applications increasin... HENRY TAUBE All science requires mathematics. The knowledge of mathematical things is almost innate in us. This ... ROGER BACON With the observable fact that scientific knowledge makes our lives better when applied with concern ... JACQUE FRESCO But every once in a while we see a different kind of technology come into an industry, and we call t... CLAYTON CHRISTENSEN A partnership with AOL allows NASA to leverage our unique content, people and facilities. Through th... ANGELA PHILLIPS DIAZ We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, a... JOHN F. KENNEDY Of our 20,000 university graduates each year, 60 percent have a degree in science, technology or bus... DAVID ALLISON We are the only flagship state institution that is serving a Hispanic population and also is a major... LOUIS CALDERA Carl Sagan spoke fluently between biology and geology and astrophysics and physics. If you move flue... NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON Knowledge is not happiness, and science
But an exchange of ignorance for that
Which is another... LORD BYRON (GEORGE GORDON NOEL BYRON) If anything, we've learned that we don't think this data's going to be as deterministic as was previ... CRAIG VENTER This is a historic event for our industry. It puts us in position to achieve our ultimate goal, whic... HOWARD WENGER Animals have come to mean so much in our lives. We live in a fragmented and disconnected culture. Po... JON KATZ Science is but the exchange of ignorance for that which is another kind of ignorance. LORD (GEORGE GORDON) BYRON The American and Russian capabilities in space science and technology mesh; they interdigitate. Each... CARL SAGAN Some areas that spring to mind are agriculture, democracy building, disaster relief, education, and ... RICHARD BOUCHER Technology is applying science to solving problems. Technology can be an enabler of product developm... GARRICK HU I've decided to study the MBA, as it's crucial to have comprehensive knowledge of business a... YI SO-YEON Mythology and science both extend the scope of human beings. Like science and technology, mythology,... KAREN ARMSTRONG All science requires mathematics. The knowledge of mathematical things is almost innate in us. This ... ROGER BACON Economics is not an exact science. It's a combination of an art and elements of science. And tha... PAUL SAMUELSON For better or for worse, at this time science is still the most trustworthy mirror of reality, and w... MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI I think I set myself on a course to become a scientist around about the time that Carl Sagan's &... ALASTAIR REYNOLDS This is perhaps the most beautiful time in human history; it is really pregnant with all kinds of cr... JONAS SALK We have heard of a Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. It is said that knowledge is power... HENRY DAVID THOREAU At an amazing speed, modern science and technology have been making continuous progress that is mark... HU JINTAO As others have copied our blueprint, we have departed from it. They are investing heavily in improvi... NANCY PELOSI So one begins to wonder what is going to happen to the human race. Technology keeps on advancing wit... DAVID BOHM Are you really surprised by the endurance of religion? What ideology is likely to be more durable th... SAM HARRIS It has been said that marriages are arranged by Heaven, that destiny will bring even the most distan... LISA SEE It has become almost a cliche to remark that nobody boasts of ignorance of literature, but it is soc... RICHARD DAWKINS It has become almost a cliché to remark that nobody boasts of ignorance of literature, but it is so... RICHARD DAWKINS Pretty soon we'll have robots in our society, you're going to have a lot of automated proces... JOSE PADILHA Triumphant science and technology are only at the threshold of man's command over sources of ene... CORDELL HULL Surely it is a magical thing for a handful of words, artfully arranged, to stop time. To conjure a p... JHUMPA LAHIRI This validates the relevance and power that open-source [products] now have in the technology world.... ED BOYAJIAN
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... CARL SAGAN Imagine that I am riding a bicycle toward you. As I approach an intersection I nearly collide, so it... CARL SAGAN A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science... CARL SAGAN Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you k... CARL SAGAN Personally, I would be delighted if there were a life after death, especially if it permitted me to ... CARL SAGAN The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself. CARL SAGAN The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pi... CARL SAGAN Before we invented civilization our ancestors lived mainly in the open out under the sky. Before we ... CARL SAGAN A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called CARL SAGAN The hole in the ozone layer is a kind of skywriting. 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CARL SAGAN People are not stupid. They believe things for reasons. The last way for skeptics to get the attenti... CARL SAGAN There is today-in a time when old beliefs are withering-a kind of philosophical hunger, a need to kn... 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 We are the local embodiment of a Cosmos grown to self-awareness. We have begun to contemplate our or... CARL SAGAN In the fabric of space and in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written sma... CARL SAGAN Books tap the wisdom of our species -- the greatest minds, the best teachers -- from all over the wo... CARL SAGAN If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. CARL SAGAN When you make the finding yourself - even if you're the last person on Earth to see the light - you'... CARL SAGAN Modern science has been a voyage into the unknown, with a lesson in humility waiting at every stop. ... CARL SAGAN Where we have strong emotions, we're liable to fool ourselves. CARL SAGAN If we like them, they're freedom fighters . . . If we don't like them, they're terrorists. In the un... CARL SAGAN If the world is to be understood, if we are to avoid such logical paradoxes when traveling at high s... CARL SAGAN We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers. CARL SAGAN What's the harm of a little mystification? It sure beats boring statistical analyses. CARL SAGAN They laughed at Galileo. They laughed at Newton. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown. CARL SAGAN I can find in my undergraduate classes, bright students who do not know that the stars rise and set ... 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. CARL SAGAN It is of interest to note that while some dolphins are reported to have learned English - up to fif... CARL SAGAN Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it, we go nowhere. CARL SAGAN The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition. . -Carl Sagan. CARL SAGAN Widespread intellectual and moral docility may be convenient for leaders in the short term, but it i... CARL SAGAN Think of how many religions attempt to validate themselves with prophecy. Think of how many people r... CARL SAGAN All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single lar... CARL SAGAN All inquires carry with them some element of risk. There is no guarantee that the universe will c... CARL SAGAN We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows a... CARL SAGAN Our ancestors worshipped the Sun, and they were not that foolish. It makes sense to revere the S... 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 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 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