Carl Sagan quotes - page 2

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)
The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by God one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying... it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity. View quote
Carl Sagan
That kind of skeptical, questioning, "don't accept what authority tells you" attitude of science - is also nearly identical to the attitude of mind necessary for a functioning democracy. Science and democracy have very consonant values and approaches, and I don't think you can have one without the other. View quote
Carl Sagan
Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved? View quote
Carl Sagan
A tiny blue dot set in a sunbeam. Here it is. That's where we live. That's home. We humans are one species and this is our world. It is our responsibility to cherish it. Of all the worlds in our solar system, the only one so far as we know, graced by life. View quote
Carl Sagan
The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff. View quote
Carl Sagan
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. View quote
Carl Sagan
What counts is not what sounds plausible, not what we would like to believe, not what one or two witnesses claim, but only what is supported by hard evidence rigorously and skeptically examined. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. View quote
Carl Sagan
Human beings have a demonstrated talent for self-deception when their emotions are stirred. View quote
Carl Sagan
Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception. View quote
Carl Sagan
Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. (Carl Sagan)
The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five. View quote
Carl Sagan
The well-meaning contention that all ideas have equal merit seems to me little different from the disastrous contention that no ideas have any merit. View quote
Carl Sagan
War is murder writ large. View quote
Carl Sagan
There are many hypotheses in science which are wrong. That's perfectly all right: it's the aperture to finding out what's right. Science is a self-correcting process. View quote
Carl Sagan
Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact. View quote
Carl Sagan
And you are made of a hundred trillion cells. We are, each of us, a multitude. View quote
Carl Sagan
Other things being equal, it is better to be smart than to be stupid. View quote
Carl Sagan
The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent. View quote
Carl Sagan
In the vastness of space and the immensity of time, it is my joy to share a planet and an epoch with Annie. View quote
Carl Sagan
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)
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. View quote
Carl Sagan
The vast distances that separate the stars are providential. Beings and worlds are quarantined from one another. The quarantine is lifted only for those with sufficient self-knowledge and judgment to have safely traveled from star to star. View quote
Carl Sagan
When you make the finding yourself - even if you're the last person on Earth to see the light - you'll never forget it. View quote
Carl Sagan
It's hard to kill a creature once it lets you see its consciousness. View quote
Carl Sagan