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Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan Quotes

Astronomer

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Famous Carl Sagan Quotes

“That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. 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. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known”

Pale Blue Dot
Author:Carl Sagan
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“One consequence of this train of argument is that, even if civilizations commonly arise on planets throughout the Galaxy, few of them will be both long-lived and nontechnological. Since hazards from asteroids and comets must apply to inhabited planets all over the Galaxy, if there are such, intelligent beings everywhere will have to unify their home worlds politically, leave their planets, and move small nearby worlds around. Their eventual choice, as ours, is spaceflight or extinction.”

EarthPale Blue DotSpaceflightCarl Sagan
Book:Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
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“The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

EarthAstronomyPale Blue DotCarl Sagan
Book:Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
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“The scope and audacity of John Kennedy’s May 25, 1961, message to a joint session of Congress on “Urgent National Needs”—the speech that launched the Apollo program—dazzled me. We would use rockets not yet designed and alloys not yet conceived, navigation and docking schemes not yet devised, in order to send a man to an unknown world—a world not yet explored, not even in a preliminary way, not even by robots—and we would bring him safely back, and we would do it before the decade was over. This confident pronouncement was made before any American had even achieved Earth orbit.”

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Book:Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
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“In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken..."”

KnowsHappensScienceReligionChangePositionEvidenceArgumentScientistPainfulPhysicsSkepticismMistakenDnaScience And ReligionSkepticalSkepticScience And TechnologyArt And ScienceScientific MethodModern SciencePhilosophy Of ScienceNatural ScienceScience ReligionPhysical ScienceScientific TruthGreat ScienceScientific FactsScience PhysicsGod And SciencePale Blue DotScientific EvidenceGood ScienceSubtle AtheistScience LoveTheoretical PhysicsBest ScienceDiscovery In ScienceAdvances In ScienceNuclear Arms RaceInformation ScienceProgress In ScienceScientist LifeScience BooksEarth ScienceAdvancement Of ScienceFuture ScienceAtomic StructureScience FairImportance Of Science
Author:Carl Sagan
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“For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.”

LoveLifeInspirationalUniverseLove IsLove YouInspirational LifeCreaturesAnd LoveHumanismExistentialismCosmosPregnancyInspirational LoveExistentialOur LoveInsignificantBeing In LoveOnly LoveBeing LovedGreatest LoveVastnessTime LoveThose We LoveBearableBeen In LoveInspiring LoveWorld LoveFree LoveWords LoveBest Ever LoveFound LovePale Blue DotPower And LoveAwe And WonderAmazing LoveScience LoveSmall CreaturesWorld And LovePossible LoveVastness Of Space2 Word Love
Book:Contact
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“In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.”

KnowsShouldMindHumansSometimesHappensLastsScienceReligionChangeInterestingViewsLearningHappenedPositionHumilityEvidenceArgumentScientistPainfulPhysicsHeartacheRecallsSkepticismLast TimeMistakenDnaScience And ReligionSkepticalSkepticScience And TechnologyArt And ScienceScientific MethodModern SciencePhilosophy Of ScienceNatural ScienceScience ReligionPhysical ScienceScientific TruthGreat ScienceScientific FactsScience PhysicsGod And SciencePale Blue DotScientific EvidenceGood ScienceSubtle AtheistScience LoveTheoretical PhysicsBest ScienceDiscovery In ScienceAdvances In ScienceNuclear Arms RaceInformation ScienceProgress In ScienceScientist LifeScience BooksEarth ScienceAdvancement Of ScienceFuture ScienceAtomic StructureScience FairImportance Of Science
Author:Carl Sagan
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“I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But as much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking.”

ThinkingKnowsWantBelieveFeelingsRememberDiesAtheismTraditionAncientAtheistDespiteImmortalityAfterlifeWishful ThinkingFreethinkerPale Blue DotSubtle Atheist
Book:Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium
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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.”

WayWantLittlesSaidGodMightAbleScienceReligionUniverseModernMajorsDrawsBiggerProphetAweSubtleReverenceConventionalReservesElegantStressedCosmologyWant HimModern ScienceOrganized ReligionMagnificencePale Blue DotSubtle AtheistAstronomy And Universe
Author:Carl Sagan
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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?”

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Book:Conversations with Carl Sagan
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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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“Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.”

HelpingDarkPlanetsLonelyCosmosCosmicElsewherePaleOur PlanetHintsObscurityPlanet EarthVastnessSpecksPale Blue DotAcross The UniverseAstronomy And UniverseBlue PlanetOur Planet EarthVastness Of Space
Book:Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
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“It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it not stirring to understand how the world actually works — that white light is made of colors, that color is the way we perceive the wavelengths of light, that transparent air reflects light, that in so doing it discriminates among the waves, and that the sky is blue for the same reason that the sunset is red? It does no harm to the romance of the sunset to know a little bit about it.”

KnowsWorldWayLittlesDoeMadeSaidSometimesReasonLightRomanceSciencePassionBitsWhiteAirMysterySkyFiguresColorLittle BitResearchRedScientistBlueWaveHarmPerceiveSunsetPaleTransparentStirringWhite LightPale Blue DotWavelength
Book:Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
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“The significance of our lives and our fragile planet is then determined only by our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life's meaning. We long for a Parent to care for us, to forgive us our errors, to save us from our childish mistakes. But knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable. If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal.”

IfsLongHardCarePurposeParentGoalMistakeOur LivesIgnorancePlanetsEmbraceForgivingErrorsWorthyDeterminedSignificanceFragileCosmicCraveFablesReassuringHard TruthsCustodiansPale Blue Dot
Book:Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
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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.”

ThinkingEarthUniverseCompassionBloodStageHumilityMastersGloryRiversHatredCornersEndlessCrueltyTriumphCosmosCosmicPaleMisunderstandingArenaEmperorFractionsDotsMomentaryVastnessFerventCosmic ConsciousnessPale Blue DotAcross The UniverseAstronomy And UniversePixels
Book:Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
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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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“Human history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group Groups of people from divergent ethnic and cultural backgrounds working in some sense together [is] surely a humanizing and character building experience. If we are to survive, our loyalties must be broadened further, to include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth.”

PeopleIfsHumansWholeCharacterEarthTogetherCommunityGroupsAwarenessBuildingPlanetsMembersLoyaltyBackgroundsCosmosHuman HistoryCharacter BuildingPlanet EarthDivergentPale Blue Dot
Book:Cosmos
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“There is perhaps no better a demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world.”

WorldHumansEarthSpaceTinyAstronomyFollyCosmosPaleDemonstrationConceitEarth DayVastnessCosmic ConsciousnessBeautiful EarthEarth And SkyPale Blue DotInspirational EarthAcross The UniverseMy SpaceAstronomy And UniverseHuman Folly
Book:Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
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“The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience..... To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”

WorldHas BeensSaidMomentsCharacterHomeEarthDealsResponsibilityKnownBuildingBlueSpeciesAstronomyPreservesSettlingCosmosCherishPaleHarborsCharacter BuildingDotsHumblingVastnessPale Blue DotMigrateAstronomy And Universe
Book:Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
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