Carl Sagan Quotes - Page 8

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• Think of how many religions attempt to validate themselves with prophecy. Think of how many people rely on these prophecies, however vague, however unfulfilled, to support or prop up their beliefs. Yet has there ever been a religion with the prophetic accuracy and reliability of science? ... No other human institution comes close.

  Carl Sagan

  Science, Thinking, People

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.55, Ballantine Books

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• We wish to find the truth, no matter where it lies. But to find the truth we need imagination and skepticism both. We will not be afraid to speculate, but we will be careful to distinguish speculation from fact.

  Carl Sagan

  Lying, Imagination, Wish

  "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage". Documentary (1990 Update). Episode 1: "The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean", 1990.

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• The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from the entire planet and from all our history, to instruct us without tiring, and to inspire us to make our own contribution to the collective knowledge of the human species.

  Carl Sagan

  Teacher, Inspire, Mind

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Cosmos”, p.307, Ballantine Books

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• We humans look rather different from a tree. Without a doubt we perceive the world differently than a tree does. But down deep, at the molecular heart of life, the trees and we are essentially identical.

  Carl Sagan

  Heart, Tree, Doubt

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Cosmos”, p.57, Ballantine Books

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• We are the product of 4.5 billion years of fortuitous, slow biological evolution. There is no reason to think that the evolutionary process has stopped. Man is a transitional animal. He is not the climax of creation.

  Carl Sagan

  Animal, Men, Thinking

  Carl Sagan (1973). “Carl Sagan's Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective”, p.5, Cambridge University Press

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• .. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the 'Momentary' masters of a 'Fraction' of a 'Dot'

  Carl Sagan

  Thinking, Blood, Rivers

  Carl Sagan, Tom Head (2006). “Conversations with Carl Sagan”, p.16, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• The sky calls to us. If we do not destroy ourselves, we will one day venture to the stars.

  Carl Sagan

  Stars, Sky, One Day

  "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage". Documentary (1990 Update). Episode 7: "The Backbone of Night", 1990.

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• How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, “This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?

  Carl Sagan

  Prophet, Subtle, Bigger

  Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan (2011). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, p.71, Ballantine Books

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• The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it, but the way those atoms are put together.

  Carl Sagan

  Science, Together, Atoms

  "The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God". Book by Carl Sagan, 2006.

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• Sailors on a becalmed sea, we sense the stirring of a breeze.

  Carl Sagan

  Sea, Sailor, Breeze

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

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• I also wish that the Pledge of Allegiance were directed at the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as it is when the President takes his oath of office, rather than to the flag and the nation

  Carl Sagan

  Rights, Oath Of Office, Wish

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.546, Ballantine Books

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• The claim is also sometimes made that science is as arbitrary or irrational as all other claims to knowledge, or that reason itself is an illusion. As Ethan Allen said Those who invalidate reason ought seriously to consider whether they argue against reason with or without reason; if with reason, then they establish the principle that they are labouring to dethrone. If they argue without reason, which they must do, in order to be consistent with themselves, they are out of reach of rational conviction, nor do they deserve a rational argument.

  Carl Sagan

  Science, Order, Principles

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• In all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other.

  Carl Sagan

  Emptiness, Found, Contact

  "Fictional character: Alien". "Contact", 1997.

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• Nevertheless, (Jefferson) believed that the habit of skepticism is an essential prerequisite for responsible citizenship. He argued that the cost of education is trivial compared to the cost of ignorance, of leaving government to the wolves. He taught that the country is safe only when the people rule.

  Carl Sagan

  Country, Ignorance, Government

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.546, Ballantine Books

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• The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.

  Carl Sagan

  Ambition, Science, Perfect

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Cosmos”, p.230, Ballantine Books

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• We were wanderers from the beginning.

  Carl Sagan

  Wanderers

  Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan (2011). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, p.14, Ballantine Books

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• Every cell is a triumph of natural selection, and we’re made of trillions of cells. Within us, is a little universe.

  Carl Sagan

  Cells, Triumph, Littles

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• When you look more generally at life on Earth, you find that it is all the same kind of life. There are not many different kinds; there's only one kind. It uses about fifty fundamental biological building blocks, organic molecules.

  Carl Sagan

  Block, Molecules, Different

  Carl Sagan (2006). “The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God”, p.76, Penguin

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• I consider it an extremely dangerous doctrine, because the more likely we are to assume that the solution comes from the outside, the less likely we are to solve our problems ourselves.

  Carl Sagan

  Philosophy, Religion, Doctrine

  Carl Sagan (2006). “The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God”, p.130, Penguin

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• We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology.

  Carl Sagan

  Technology, Civilization, Elements

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• If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you.

  Carl Sagan

  Science, Acceptance, Ideas

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.391, Ballantine Books

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• We are made of stellar ash. Our origin and evolution have been tied to distant cosmic events. The exploration of the cosmos is a voyage of self-discovery.

  Carl Sagan

  Discovery, Self, Events

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Cosmos”, p.348, Ballantine Books

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• Science is a way to call the bluff of those who only pretend to knowledge. It is a bulwark against mysticism, against superstition, against religion misapplied to where it has no business being.

  Carl Sagan

  Superstitions, Way, Bluffs

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.65, Ballantine Books

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• The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent.

  Carl Sagan

  Cosmos, Existentialism, Benign

  "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage". Book by Carl Sagan, p. 250, 1980.

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• Religions contradict one another-on small matters, such as whether we should put on a hat or take one off on entering a house of worship, or whether we should eat beef and eschew pork or the other way around, all the way to the most central issues, such as whether there are no gods, one God, or many gods.

  Carl Sagan

  Religious, Issues, House

  Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan (2011). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, p.71, Ballantine Books

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