Carl Sagan quotes - page 6

There are no forbidden questions in science, no matters too sensitive or delicate to be probed, no sacred truths. (Carl Sagan)
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. View quote
Carl Sagan
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. One of the great revelations of the age of space exploration is the image of the earth finite and lonely, somehow vulnerable, bearing the entire human species through the oceans of space and time. View quote
Carl Sagan
If we are to survive, our loyalties must be broadened further, to include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth. View quote
Carl Sagan
But nature is always more subtle, more intricate, more elegant than what we are able to imagine. View quote
Carl Sagan
.. 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' View quote
Carl Sagan
Avoidable human misery is more often caused not so much by stupidity as by ignorance, particularly our ignorance about ourselves. View quote
Carl Sagan
Understanding is a kind of ecstasy. View quote
Carl Sagan
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. View quote
Carl Sagan
We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good. View quote
Carl Sagan
It does no harm to the romance of the sunset to know a little bit about it. (Carl Sagan)
The visions we offer our children shape the future. It _matters_ what those visions are. Often they become self-fulfilling prophecies. Dreams are maps. View quote
Carl Sagan
An organism at war with itself is doomed. View quote
Carl Sagan
But I could be wrong. View quote
Carl Sagan
People are not stupid. They believe things for reasons. The last way for skeptics to get the attention of bright, curious, intelligent people is to belittle or condescend or to show arrogance toward their beliefs. View quote
Carl Sagan
Sailors on a becalmed sea, we sense the stirring of a breeze. View quote
Carl Sagan
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. View quote
Carl Sagan
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. View quote
Carl Sagan
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. View quote
Carl Sagan
A central lesson of science is that to understand complex issues (or even simple ones), we must try to free our minds of dogma and to guarantee the freedom to publish, to contradict, and to experiment. Arguments from authority are unacceptable. View quote
Carl Sagan
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)
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. View quote
Carl Sagan
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. View quote
Carl Sagan
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? View quote
Carl Sagan
You could just as well say that an agnostic is a deeply religious person with at least a rudimentary knowledge of human fallibility. View quote
Carl Sagan