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Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan Quotes

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Famous Carl Sagan Quotes

“For all our conceits about being the center of the universe, we live in a routine planet of a humdrum star stuck away in an obscure corner ... on an unexceptional galaxy which is one of about 100 billion galaxies. ... That is the fundamental fact of the universe we inhabit, and it is very good for us to understand that.”

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Author:Carl Sagan
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“If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. You become a crotchety old person convinced that nonsense is ruling the world. (There is, of course, much data to support you.) But every now and then, a new idea turns out to be on the mark, valid and wonderful. If you are too much in the habit of being skeptical about everything, you are going to miss or resent it, and either way you will be standing in the way of understanding and progress.”

IfsWorldWayPersonsIdeasScienceTurnsCoursesUnderstandingSupportToo MuchProgressWonderfulMissingHabitStandingMarkConvincedDataNonsenseNow And ThenSkepticismNew IdeasRulingSkepticalResentSkepticSupport YouOld PersonRuling The World
Author:Carl Sagan
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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”

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Book:Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
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“Anything else you're interested in is not going to happen if you can't breathe the air and drink the water. Don't sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet.”

IfsMomentsHappensWaterAliveFateAirPlanetsDrinkRiversEnvironmentalCriticalBreatheAccidentsSustainabilityOur PlanetOur EnvironmentSustainable DevelopmentGreen LivingSustainable LivingRivers And WaterAir And WaterClimate ActionCritical MomentsWater Is Life
Author:Carl Sagan
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“The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.”

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Book:Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
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“(When asked merely if they accept evolution, 45 percent of Americans say yes. The figure is 70 percent in China.) When the movie Jurassic Park was shown in Israel, it was condemned by some Orthodox rabbis because it accepted evolution and because it taught that dinosaurs lived a hundred million years ago-when, as is plainly stated at every Rosh Hashonhan and every Jewish wedding ceremony, the Universe is less than 6,000 years old.”

IfsYearsReligionUniverseAcceptingMillionsFiguresTaughtEvolutionPercentHundredYears AgoAtheistIsraelChinaAcceptedParksOrthodoxCeremonyDinosaursRabbiWedding CeremonyJurassic Park
Book:Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
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“Many statements about God are confidently made by theologians on grounds that today at least sound specious. Thomas Aquinas claimed to prove that God cannot make another God, or commit suicide, or make a man without a soul, or even make a triangle whose interior angles do not equal 180 degrees. But Bolyai and Lobachevsky were able to accomplish this last feat (on a curved surface) in the nineteenth century, and they were not even approximately gods.”

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Author:Carl Sagan
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“If some good evidence for life after death were announced, I'd be eager to examine it; but it would have to be real scientific data, not mere anecdote. As with the face on Mars and alien abductions, better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy.”

IfsRealHardFacesReligionFantasyEvidenceMereAtheistAliensDataBeing RealMarsComfortingAfter DeathLife After DeathAnecdotesHard TruthsAbductionAlien Abduction
Book:Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
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“Since World War II, Japan has spawned enormous numbers of new religions featuring the supernatural.... In Thailand, diseases are treated with pills manufactured from pulverized sacred Scripture. Witches are today being burned in South Africa.... The worldwide TM [Transcendental Meditation] organization has an estimated valuation of $3 billion. For a fee, they promise to make you invisible, to enable you to fly.”

WorldWarTodayReligionNumbersMeditationPromiseDiseaseOrganizationSacredSouthAtheistBillionsScriptureInvisibleEnormousTreatedWar Of The WorldsJapanWitchWorld War IiWorld War IBurnedSouth AfricaPillsFeesTranscendentalThailandValuationTranscendental MeditationSacred Scripture
Author:Carl Sagan
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“In Italy, the Inquisition was condemning people to death until the end of the eighteenth century, and inquisitional torture was not abolished in the Catholic Church until 1816. The last bastion of support for the reality of witchcraft and the necessity of punishment has been the Christian churches.”

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Book:Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
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“Is it fair to be suspicious of an entire profession because of a few bad apples? There are at least two important differences, it seems to me. First, no one doubts that science actually works, whatever mistaken and fraudulent claim may from time to time be offered. But whether there are any miraculous cures from faith-healing, beyond the body's own ability to cure itself, is very much at issue. Secondly, the expose' of fraud and error in science is made almost exclusively by science. But the exposure of fraud and error in faith-healing is almost never done by other faith-healers.”

FirstsMayMadeTwoImportantDoneBodySeemsReligionDifferencesAbilityHealingIssuesDoubtFairsClaimsErrorsAtheistProfessionCuresApplesFraudMistakenExposureMiraculousSuspiciousHealerBad AppleFaith Healing
Author:Carl Sagan
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“Too much openness and you accept every notion, idea, and hypothesis-which is tantamount to knowing nothing. Too much skepticism-especially rejection of new ideas before they are adequately tested-and you're not only unpleasantly grumpy, but also closed to the advance of science. A judicious mix is what we need.”

NeedsIdeasScienceAcceptingKnowledgeKnowingToo MuchAcceptanceNotionRejectionOpennessSkepticismNew IdeasTestedHypothesisGrumpyKnowing Nothing
Author:Carl Sagan
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“We are an intelligent species and the use of our intelligence quite properly gives us pleasure. In this respect the brain is like a muscle. When we think well, we feel good. Understanding is a kind of ecstasy.”

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Book:Broca's brain: reflections on the romance of science
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“Imagine a room awash in gasoline, and there are two implacable enemies in that room. One of them has nine thousand matches. The other has seven thousand matches. Each of them is concerned about who's ahead, who's stronger. Well that's the kind of situation we are actually in. The amount of weapons that are available to the United States and the Soviet Union are so bloated, so grossly in excess of what's needed to dissuade the other, that if it weren't so tragic, it would be laughable. What is necessary is to reduce the matches and to clean up the gasoline.”

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Author:Carl Sagan
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“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. Sooner or later such a religion will emerge.”

MightAbleScienceSpiritReligionSpiritualityUniverseAtheismModernDrawsAweReverenceConventionalReservesSooner Or LaterStressedAgnosticismModern ScienceOrganized ReligionMagnificencePantheismPale Blue DotAstronomy And Universe
Book:Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
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“For myself, I like a universe that, includes much that is unknown and, at the same time, much that is knowable. A universe in which everything is known would be static and dull, as boring as the heaven of some weak-minded theologians. A universe that is unknowable is no fit place for a thinking being. The ideal universe for us is one very much like the universe we inhabit. And I would guess that this is not really much of a coincidence.”

ThinkingWould BeScienceUniverseHeavenKnownKnowledgeFitIdealsWeakBoringBoredomDullCoincidenceTheologianStatic
Book:Broca's brain: reflections on the romance of science
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