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Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan Quotes

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Famous Carl Sagan Quotes

“An extraterrestrial being, newly arrived on Earth - scrutinizing what we mainly present to our children in television, radio, movies, newspapers, magazines, the comics, and many books - might easily conclude that we are intent on teaching them murder, rape, cruelty, superstition, credulity, and consumerism. We keep at it, and through constant repetition many of them finally get it.”

ChildrenBookMightEarthTeachingTelevisionMurderOur ChildrenConstantRadioNewspapersCrueltyMagazinesSuperstitionsConsumerismRepetitionCredulityExtraterrestrial
Book:Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
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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?” Instead they say, “No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.” A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.”

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Author:Carl Sagan
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“What is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas. If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish useful ideas from the worthless ones.”

IfsNeedsTwoIdeasHandsBalanceOpennessNew IdeasWorthlessHypothesisSkepticalExquisiteScrutinyGullibility
Author:Carl Sagan
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“We live on a hunk of rock and metal that circles a humdrum star that is one of 400 billion other stars that make up the Milky Way Galaxy which is one of billions of other galaxies which make up a universe which may be one of a very large number, perhaps an infinite number, of other universes. That is a perspective on human life and our culture that is well worth pondering.”

WayHumansWellsMayCultureUniverseStarsNumbersRocksPerspectiveInfinitePositive AtheismBillionsCirclesHuman LifeMetalsGalaxyPonderingCosmologyLarge NumbersMilky WayHunkHumdrum
Author:Carl Sagan
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“The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge, and there's no place for it in the endeavor of science. We do not know beforehand where fundamental insights will arise from about our mysterious and lovely solar system. The history of our study of our solar system shows us clearly that accepted and conventional ideas are often wrong, and that fundamental insights can arise from the most unexpected sources.”

KnowsMayIdeasShowsCommonStudyPathSourceFundamentalsInsightPositive AtheismAcceptedLovelyAriseMysteriousUncomfortableUnexpectedEndeavorConventionalSuppressionSolar System
Author:Carl Sagan
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“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”

IfsGivingLongEnoughScienceReligionTakenLessonsFindingsEvidenceScientistPainfulCorruptionAcknowledgeRejectsOver YouCapturedSaddestCharlatansFinding Out The TruthCorrupt PowerPower And CorruptionPower CorruptionBamboozle
Book:Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
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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.”

WorldHeartMayIdeasSelfReasonFactsExerciseBuiltCriticismTestsErrorsSuperstitionsMachinerySlidesOutside WorldCorrectingPseudoscienceCharacterizationSelf CriticismSelf Indulgent
Book:Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
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“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?”

LifeInspirationalMindHumansLooksBookTruthScienceReligionUniverseHuman BeingsAcceptingTeachHumilityInvolvedScientistHumbleSkepticismOpen MindLiteralFallibilityPale Blue DotHumble Man
Book:Conversations with Carl Sagan
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“A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called "leaves") imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time ― proof that humans can work magic.”

PeopleInspirationalWritingYearsHumansPersonsMadeStillsBookFunnyTogetherReadingVoiceDarkBreakMagicTreeCitizensProofInventionFlatsGlancesFlexibleBindingShacklesAssemblageHuman Inventions
Book:Cosmos
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“Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries.”

WorldHumansScienceUniverseWishHuman BeingsWonderKnowledgeMysteryComfortAspectPrejudiceStructureAweCosmosSuperstitionsSkepticismFleetingPenetrateSense Of WonderPale Blue Dot
Author:Carl Sagan
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“Present global culture is a kind of arrogant newcomer. It arrives on the planetary stage following four and a half billion years of other acts, and after looking about for a few thousand years declares itself in possession of eternal truths. But in a world that is changing as fast as ours, this is a prescription for disaster. No nation, no religion, no economic system, no body of knowledge, is likely to have all the answers for our survival. There must be many social systems that would work far better than any now in existence. In the scientific tradition, our task is to find them.”

WorldYearsKindBodyCultureNationsSocialAnswersExistenceHalfFourEconomicStageThousandEternalSurvivalTraditionTasksFollowingPossessionBillionsDisasterArrogantThousand YearsPrescriptionsEconomic SystemsSocial SystemsNewcomers
Author:Carl Sagan
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“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.”

IfsMeanDoeIdeasLawScienceReligionFallUniverseWhiteSkyPrayingMalesAtheistGravityAgnosticBeardSparrowsSubtle Atheist
Author:Carl Sagan
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“The near side of a galaxy is tens of thousands of light-years closer to us than the far side; thus we see the front as it was tens of thousands of years before the back. But typical events in galactic dynamics occupy tens of millions of years, so the error in thinking of an image of a galaxy as frozen in one moment of time is small.”

ThinkingYearsMomentsLightSidesMillionsFrontsEventsErrorsTypicalFrozenGalaxyDynamicsLight YearsFar Side
Book:Cosmos
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“Perhaps, in retrospect, there would be little motivation even for malevolent extraterrestrials to attack the Earth; perhaps, after a preliminary survey, they might decide it is more expedient just to be patient for a little while and wait for us to self-destruct.”

LittlesSelfMightWould BeEarthMotivationWaitingPatientBe PatientSurveysRetrospectSelf Destruct
Book:Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium
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“Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication, and courage. But if we don't practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us --- and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along.”

IfsProblemFacesReligionNextNationsPracticeRiskSeriousBecomingHabitOceanFindingsToughAtheistIndividualitySolveConfusionDedicationOccasionalSuckerStrawsNonconformityVigilanceCharlatansConformity And IndividualityBamboozle
Author:Carl Sagan
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