Carl Sagan Quotes - Page 12

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• You can get into a habit of thought in which you enjoy making fun of all those other people who don't see things as clearly as you do. We have to guard carefully against it.

  Carl Sagan

  Fun, Science, People

  "The Burden of Skepticism". Book by Carl Sagan, 1987.

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• Better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy. And in the final tolling it often turns out that the facts are more comforting than the fantasy.

  Carl Sagan

  Comforting, Religion, Finals

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.263, Ballantine Books

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• The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge, and there's no place for it in the endeavor of science. We do not know beforehand where fundamental insights will arise from about our mysterious and lovely solar system. The history of our study of our solar system shows us clearly that accepted and conventional ideas are often wrong, and that fundamental insights can arise from the most unexpected sources.

  Carl Sagan

  Ideas, Lovely, Fundamentals

  "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage". Book by Carl Sagan, p. 91, 1980.

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• Eratosthenes's only tools were sticks, eyes, feet, and brains; plus a zest for experiment. With those tools he correctly deduced the circumference of the Earth, to high precision, with an error of only a few percent. That's pretty good figuring for 2200 years ago.

  Carl Sagan

  Eye, Errors, Zest

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• You're an interesting species, an interesting mix. You're capable of such beautiful dreams and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you're not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other.

  Carl Sagan

  Beautiful, Dream, Cutting

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• All of us cherish our beliefs. They are, to a degree, self-defining. When someone comes along who challenges our belief system as insufficiently well-based - or who, like Socrates, merely asks embarrassing questions that we haven't thought of, or demonstrates that we've swept key underlying assumptions under the rug - it becomes much more than a search for knowledge. It feels like a personal assault.

  Carl Sagan

  Love, Embarrassing Questions, Keys

  Carl Sagan (2011). “The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.297, Ballantine Books

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• The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.

  Carl Sagan

  Cosmos, Earth, Vastness

  Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan (2011). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, p.28, Ballantine Books

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• Human history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group Groups of people from divergent ethnic and cultural backgrounds working in some sense together [is] surely a humanizing and character building experience. If we are to survive, our loyalties must be broadened further, to include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth.

  Carl Sagan

  Loyalty, Character, People

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Cosmos”, p.371, Ballantine Books

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• Present global culture is a kind of arrogant newcomer. It arrives on the planetary stage following four and a half billion years of other acts, and after looking about for a few thousand years declares itself in possession of eternal truths. But in a world that is changing as fast as ours, this is a prescription for disaster. No nation, no religion, no economic system, no body of knowledge, is likely to have all the answers for our survival. There must be many social systems that would work far better than any now in existence. In the scientific tradition, our task is to find them.

  Carl Sagan

  Years, Survival, Answers

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• The open road still softly calls, like a nearly forgotten song of childhood

  Carl Sagan

  Song, Childhood, Forgotten

  Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan (2011). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, p.15, Ballantine Books

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• The illegality of cannabis is outrageous.

  Carl Sagan

  Cannabis, Outrageous

  "Mr. X". Essay by Carl Sagan, hermiene.net. 1969.

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• It seems madness to say, 'We're worried that they're going to become addicted to marijuana' -- there's no evidence whatever that it's an addictive drug, but even if it were, these people are dying, what are we saving them from?

  Carl Sagan

  Marijuana, People, Drug

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• Too much openness and you accept every notion, idea, and hypothesis-which is tantamount to knowing nothing. Too much skepticism-especially rejection of new ideas before they are adequately tested-and you're not only unpleasantly grumpy, but also closed to the advance of science. A judicious mix is what we need.

  Carl Sagan

  Knowledge, Acceptance, Science

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• Religions are often state-protected nurseries of pseudoscience, although there's no reason why religions have to play that role. In a way, it's an artefact from times long gone.

  Carl Sagan

  Play, Nurse, Long

  Carl Sagan (2011). “The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.15, Ballantine Books

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• The visions we offer our children shape the future.

  Carl Sagan

  Children, Vision, Shapes

  Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan (2011). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, p.90, Ballantine Books

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• Absolute certainty will always elude us. We will always be mired in error. The most each generation can hope for is to reduce the error. . . .

  Carl Sagan

  Errors, Elude Us, Generations

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.52, Ballantine Books

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• Those who seek power at any price detect a societal weakness, a fear that they can ride into office.

  Carl Sagan

  Office, Weakness

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.518, Ballantine Books

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• Personally, I would be delighted if there were a life after death, especially if it permitted me to continue to learn about this world and others, if it gave me a chance to discover how history turns out.

  Carl Sagan

  Death, History, Would Be

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science”, p.355, Ballantine Books

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• Extraordinary observations require extraordinary evidence to make them believable.

  Carl Sagan

  Observation, Evidence, Extraordinary

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• A blade of grass is a commonplace on Earth; it would be a miracle on Mars. Our descendants on Mars will know the value of a patch of green. And if a blade of grass is priceless, what is the value of a human being?

  Carl Sagan

  Miracle, Would Be, Mars

  Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan (2011). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, p.309, Ballantine Books

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• There are huge advertising budgets only when there's no difference between the products. If the products really were different, people would buy the one that's better. Advertising teaches people not to trust their judgment. Advertising teaches people to be stupid.

  Carl Sagan

  Stupid, Differences, People

  Carl Sagan (2016). “Contact”, p.225, Simon and Schuster

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• If chimpanzees have consciousness, if they are capable of abstractions, do they not have what until now has been described as 'human rights'? How smart does a chimp have to be before killing him constitutes murder?

  Carl Sagan

  Smart, Animal, Rights

  Carl Sagan (2012). “Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence”, p.126, Ballantine Books

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• In Mozambique, the story goes, monkeys do not talk, because they know if they utter even a single word some man will come and put them to work.

  Carl Sagan

  Men, Mozambique, Stories

  Carl Sagan (2016). “Contact”, p.313, Simon and Schuster

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• I believe our future depends powerfully on how well we understand this cosmos in which we float, like a mote of dust in the morning sky.

  Carl Sagan

  Morning, Believe, Dust

  "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage". Book by Carl Sagan, p. 4, 1980.

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• If some good evidence for life after death were announced, I'd be eager to examine it; but it would have to be real scientific data, not mere anecdote. As with the face on Mars and alien abductions, better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy.

  Carl Sagan

  Atheist, Real, Data

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.263, Ballantine Books

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