Carl Sagan Quotes - Page 9

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If we are to survive, our loyalties must be broadened further, to include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth.

Carl Sagan

Loyalty, Community, Cosmos

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

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The lifetime of a human being is measured by decades, the lifetime of the Sun is a hundred million times longer. Compared to a star, we are like mayflies, fleeting ephemeral creatures who live out their lives in the course of a single day.

Carl Sagan

Stars, Fleeting, Ephemeral

Carl Sagan (2011). “Cosmos”, p.241, Ballantine Books

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The method of science is tried and true. It is not perfect, it's just the best we have. And to abandon it, with its skeptical protocols, is the pathway to a dark age.

Carl Sagan

Dark, Science, Perfect

"Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of magic.

Carl Sagan

Book, Writing, People

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

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In many cultures it is customary to answer that God created the universe out of nothing. But this is mere temporizing. If we wish courageously to pursue the question, we must, of course ask next where God comes from? And if we decide this to be unanswerable, why not save a step and conclude that the universe has always existed?

Carl Sagan

Atheist, Religion, Wish

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Where did God come from? If we decide this is an unanswerable question why not save a step and conclude that the origin of the universe is an unanswerable question.

Carl Sagan

Religion, Why Not, Steps

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It is clear that the nations of the world now can only rise and fall together. It is not a question of one nation winning at the expense of another. We must all help one another or all perish together.

Carl Sagan

Peace, Fall, Winning

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I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture, and our concern for the future, can all be tested by how well we support our libraries.

Carl Sagan

Thinking, Civilization, Support

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

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If we offer too much silent assent about mysticism and superstition - even when it seems to be doing a little good - we abet a general climate in which scepticism is considered impolite, science tiresome, and rigorous thinking somehow stuffy and inappropriate.

Carl Sagan

Thinking, Superstitions, Too Much

Carl Sagan (2011). “The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.298, Ballantine Books

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Before we invented civilization our ancestors lived mainly in the open out under the sky. Before we devised artificial lights and atmospheric pollution and modern forms of nocturnal entertainment we watched the stars. There were practical calendar reasons of course but there was more to it than that. Even today the most jaded city dweller can be unexpectedly moved upon encountering a clear night sky studded with thousands of twinkling stars. When it happens to me after all these years it still takes my breath away.

Carl Sagan

Stars, Night, Light

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The visions we offer our children shape the future. It _matters_ what those visions are. Often they become self-fulfilling prophecies. Dreams are maps.

Carl Sagan

Dream, Children, Future

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

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It does no harm to the romance of the sunset to know a little bit about it.

Carl Sagan

Sunset, Romance, Doe

Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan (2011). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, p.154, Ballantine Books

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If the constellations had been named in the twentieth century, I suppose we would see bicycles and refrigerators in the sky.

Carl Sagan

Century, Biking, Tandem Bikes

"Cosmos".

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It will not be we who reach Alpha Centauri, and the other nearby stars. It will be a species very like us - but with more of our strengths and fewer of our weaknesses.

Carl Sagan

Stars, Weakness, Thrive

Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan (2011). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, p.355, Ballantine Books

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Man is a transitional animal. He is not the climax of creation

Carl Sagan

Animal, Men, Creation

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

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She had studied the universe all her life, but had overlooked its clearest message: For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.

Carl Sagan

Messages, Vastness, Small Creatures

Carl Sagan (1997). “Contact”, p.430, Simon and Schuster

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First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?

Carl Sagan

Two, Government, Firsts

"Fictional character: S.R. Hadden". "Contact", www.imdb.com. 1997.

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There are lots of ways to communicate what we know, but few ways to communicate what we feel. Music is one way to communicate emotions.

Carl Sagan

Music, Way, Emotion

Carl Sagan, Tom Head (2006). “Conversations with Carl Sagan”, p.49, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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It took the Church until 1832 to remove Galileo 's work from its list of books which Catholics were forbidden to read at the risk of dire punishment of their immortal souls.

Carl Sagan

Book, Punishment, Soul

Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan (2011). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, p.62, Ballantine Books

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Advances in medicine and agriculture have saved vastly more lives than have been lost in all the wars in history.

Carl Sagan

Atheist, War, Science

Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.31, Ballantine Books

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The fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses.

Carl Sagan

Laughter, Doing You, Doe

Broca's Brain ch. 5 (1979)

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Science is merely an extremely powerful method of winnowing what's true from what feels good.

Carl Sagan

Powerful, Science, Feel Good

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In college, in the early 1950s, I began to learn a little about how science works, the secrets of its great success, how rigorous the standards of evidence must be if we are really to know something is true, how many false starts and dead ends have plagued human thinking, how our biases can colour our interpretation of evidence, and how often belief systems widely held and supported by the political, religious and academic hierarchies turn out to be not just slightly in error, but grotesquely wrong.

Carl Sagan

Religious, College, Thinking

Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.98, Ballantine Books

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Every time you look up at the sky, every one of those points of light is a reminder that fusion power is extractable from hydrogen and other light elements, and it is an everyday reality throughout the Milky Way Galaxy.

Carl Sagan

Reality, Light, Sky

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Indeed the reasoned criticism of a prevailing belief is a service to the proponents of that belief; if they are incapable of defending it, they are well advised to abandon it. This self-questioning and error-correcting aspect of the scientific method is its most striking property.

Carl Sagan

Errors, Self Questioning, Criticism

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

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

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