Carl Sagan Quotes - Page 18

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With insufficient data it is easy to go wrong.

Carl Sagan

Data, Easy, Insufficient

Carl Sagan (2011). “Cosmos”, p.118, Ballantine Books

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By exploring other worlds we safeguard this one. By itself, I think this fact more than justifies the money our species has spent in sending ships to other worlds. It is our fate to live during one of the most perilous and, at the same time, one of the most hopeful chapters in human history.

Carl Sagan

Fate, Thinking, Other Worlds

"Cosmos: A Personal Voyage". Documentary (1990 Update). Episode 13: "Who Speaks for Earth?", 1990.

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Imagine we could accelerate continuously at 1 g-what we're comfortable with on good old terra firma-to the midpoint of our voyage, and decelerate continuously at 1 g until we arrive at our destination. It would take a day to get to Mars, a week and a half to Pluto, a year to the Oort Cloud, and a few years to the nearest stars.

Carl Sagan

Stars, Clouds, Years

Carl Sagan (1994). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, Random House Incorporated

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All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value.

Carl Sagan

Book, Science, Technology

Carl Sagan (2011). “Cosmos”, p.315, Ballantine Books

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The prediction I can make with the highest confidence is that the most amazing discoveries will be the ones we are not today wise enough to foresee.

Carl Sagan

Wise, Discovery, Today

Carl Sagan (2011). “Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium”, p.49, Ballantine Books

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The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean.

Carl Sagan

Ocean, Cosmos, Ankles

Carl Sagan (2011). “Cosmos”, p.26, Ballantine Books

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Any civilization that doesn't develop space travel dies.

Carl Sagan

Civilization, Space, Space Travel

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The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Carl Sagan

Humility, Thinking, Compassion

Carl Sagan (1994). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, Random House Incorporated

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It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science.

Carl Sagan

Creativity, Science, Unexpected

Carl Sagan (2011). “Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science”, p.73, Ballantine Books

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I'm only a four-dimensional creature. Haven't got a clue how to visualise infinity. Even Einstein hadn't. I know because I asked him

Carl Sagan

Four, Infinity, Clue

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A new consciousness is developing which sees the earth as a single organism and recognizes that an organism at war with itself is doomed. We are one planet.

Carl Sagan

War, Earth, Consciousness

"Cosmos". TV Mini-Series, www.imdb.com. 1980.

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To read is to voyage through time.

Carl Sagan

Time, Voyages, Rough Times

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As agonizing a disease as cancer is, I do not think it can be said that our civilization is threatened by it. ... But a very plausible case can be made that our civilization is fundamentally threatened by the lack of adequate fertility control. Exponential increases of population will dominate any arithmetic increases, even those brought about by heroic technological initiatives, in the availability of food and resources, as Malthus long ago realized.

Carl Sagan

Cancer, Science, Thinking

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The Apollo pictures of the whole Earth conveyed to multitudes something well known to astronomers: On the scale of the worlds - to say nothing of stars or galaxies - humans are inconsequential, a thin film of life on an obscure and solitary lump of rock and metal

Carl Sagan

Stars, Rocks, Apollo

Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan (2011). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, p.25, Ballantine Books

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That we can now think of no mechanism for astrology is relevant but unconvincing. No mechanism was known, for example, for continental drift when it was proposed by Wegener. Nevertheless, we see that Wegener was right, and those who objected on the grounds of unavailable mechanism were wrong.

Carl Sagan

Thinking, Astrology, Example

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If our long-term survival is at stake, we have a basic responsibility to our species to venture to other worlds. Sailors on a becalmed sea, we sense the stirring of a breeze.

Carl Sagan

Responsibility, Sea, Other Worlds

Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan (2011). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, p.337, Ballantine Books

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It would be wryly interesting if in human history the cultivation of marijuana led generally to the invention of agriculture, and thereby to civilization.

Carl Sagan

Weed, Marijuana, Civilization

Carl Sagan (2012). “Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence”, p.201, Ballantine Books

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Football is a thinly disguised re-enactment of hunting; we played it before we were human.

Carl Sagan

Soccer, Football, Hunting

Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.471, Ballantine Books

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A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.

Carl Sagan

Book, Magic, Cosmos

"Cosmos: A Personal Voyage". Book by Carl Sagan, 1990.

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All of the rocky and metallic material we stand on, the iron in our blood, the calcium in our teeth, the carbon in our genes were produced billions of years ago in the interior of a red giant star. We are made of star stuff.

Carl Sagan

Stars, Blood, Years

Carl Sagan (1973). “Carl Sagan's Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective”, p.190, Cambridge University Press

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The Universe forces those who live in it to understand it. Those creatures who find everyday experience a muddled jumble of events with no predictability, no regularity, are in grave peril. The Universe belongs to those who, at least to some degree, have figured it out.

Carl Sagan

Everyday, Events, Degrees

Carl Sagan (2011). “Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science”, p.19, Ballantine Books

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There are many hypotheses in physics of almost comparable brillance and elegance that have been rejected because they did not survive such a confrontation with experiment. In my view, the human condition would be greatly improved if such confrontations and willingness to reject hypotheses were a regular part of our social, political, economic, religious and cultural lives.

Carl Sagan

Religious, Views, Political

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Religions are tough. Either they make no contentions which are subject to disproof or they quickly redesign doctrine after disproof. ... near the core of the religious experience is something remarkably resistant to rational inquiry.

Carl Sagan

Religious, Science, Experience

Carl Sagan (1979). “Broca's brain: reflections on the romance of science”, Random House Inc

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One of the reasons for its success is that science has a built-in, error-correcting machinery at its very heart. Some may consider this an overbroad characterization, but to me every time we exercise self-criticism, every time we test our ideas against the outside world, we are doing science. When we are self-indulgent and uncritical, when we confuse hopes and facts, we slide into pseudoscience and superstition.

Carl Sagan

Heart, Exercise, Ideas

Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.51, Ballantine Books

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We are prodding, challenging, seeking contradictions or small, persistent residual errors, proposing alternative explanations, encouraging heresy. We give our highest rewards to those who convincingly disprove established beliefs.

Carl Sagan

Errors, Giving, Challenges

Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.58, Ballantine Books

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Born: November 9, 1934
Died: December 20, 1996
Occupation: Astronomer
Cite this Page: Citation

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