70 Carl Sagan Quotes about Earth and Love
– Carl Sagan Quotes –
Did you know there’s a way to find your place in the universe by going through Carl Sagan quotes? Well, now you do. Let’s take you on a journey through the mind of this notable astronomer with these Carl Sagan quotes.
Carl Sagan, the full name Carl Edward Sagan, was an American astronomer and science writer who was born on November 9, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York, and died on December 20, 1996, in Seattle, Washington.
He was a popular and influential figure in the United States, but his views on extraterrestrial intelligence, nuclear weapons, and religion were divisive in scientific, political, and religious circles. Sagan wrote the article “life” for the 14th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1929–73) in 1970.
Carl Sagan Quotes on the Universe
Carl Sagan’s interest in astrology and the universe made him a deep thinker. These are some of his quotes on the universe and finding your place in it.
1. “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”
2. “Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.”
3. “The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies was made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of star stuff.”
4. “Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.”
5. “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.
6. “For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”
7. “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”
8. “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?”
9. “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.”
Carl Sagan Quotes on Imagination
10. “Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but without it we go nowhere.”
11. “It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out.”
12. “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.”
13. “But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, and they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.”
14. “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.”
15. “We are like butterflies that flutter for a day and think it is forever.”
16. “The universe is a pretty big place. If it’s just us, seems like an awful waste of space.”
17. “You’re an interesting species. An interesting mix. You’re capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you’re not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we’ve found that makes the emptiness bearable, is each other.”
18. “Frederick Douglass taught that literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. There are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom, but reading is still the path.”
19. “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.” Carl Sagan Quotes
READ ALSO!!!
Quotes on Nuclear Arms
20. “The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five.”
21. “The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what’s true.”
22. “For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.”
23. “Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.”
24. “It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”
25. “I can find in my undergraduate classes, bright students who do not know that the stars rise and set at night, or even that the Sun is a star.”
26. “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.”
27. “Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.”
28. “If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits?”
29. “We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.”
30. “The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent.”
31. “A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism.”
32. “All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value.”
33. “The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.”
34. “When you make the finding yourself – even if you’re the last person on Earth to see the light – you’ll never forget it.”
35. “The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.”
36. “We’ve arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology.”
37. “I am often amazed at how much more capability and enthusiasm for science there is among elementary school youngsters than among college students.”
38. “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
38. “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”
39. “But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.”
40. “There are naive questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is a cry to understand the world. There is no such thing as a dumb question.”
41. “But I try not to think with my gut. If I’m serious about understanding the world, thinking with anything besides my brain, as tempting as that might be, is likely to get me into trouble.”
42. “Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works.”
43. “What a marvelous cooperative arrangement – plants and animals each inhaling each other’s exhalations, a kind of planet-wide mutual mouth-to-stoma resuscitation, the entire elegant cycle powered by a star 150 million kilometres away.”
44. “If God is omnipotent and omniscient, why didn’t he start the universe out in the first place so it would come out the way he wants? Why’s he constantly repairing and complaining? No, there’s one thing the Bible makes clear: The biblical God is a sloppy manufacturer. He’s not good at design, he’s not good at execution. He’d be out of business if there was any competition.”
45. “We are fortunate: we are alive; we are powerful; the welfare of our civilization and our species is in our hands. If we do not speak for Earth, who will? If we are not committed to our own survival, who will be?”
46. “For all our failings, despite our limitations and fallibilities, we humans are capable of greatness .”
47. “We must understand the Cosmos as it is and not confuse how it is with how we wish it to be .”
48. “Intellectual capacity is no guarantee against being dead wrong .”
49. “We are privileged to live in, and if we are lucky to influence, one of the most critical epochs in the history of the human species .”
50. “I think if we ever reach the point where we think we thoroughly understand who we are and where we came from, we will have failed .”
51. “The nature of life on Earth and the search for life elsewhere are two sides of the same question—the search for who we are .”
52. “The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both .”
53. “I believe that the extraordinary should certainly be pursued. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence .”
54. “Science is an ongoing process. It never ends. There is no single ultimate truth to be achieved, after which all the scientists can retire .”
55. “Are we willing to tolerate ignorance and complacency in matters that affect the entire human family?”
56. “Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking .”
57. “We tend not to be especially critical when presented with evidence that seems to confirm our prejudices .”
58. “I would rather be a transformed ape than a degenerate son of Adam .”
59. “The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous .”
60. “We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.”
61. “There is every reason to think that in the coming years Mars and its mysteries will become increasingly familiar to the inhabitants of the Planet Earth.”
62. “Man is the matter of the cosmos, contemplating itself.”
63. “The only planet we are sure is inhabited is a tiny speck of rock and metal, shining feebly by reflected sunlight, and at this distance utterly lost.”
64. “The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean.”
65. “We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.”
66. “And just when she felt more capable of love than she had ever been, she found herself alone.”
67. “It is on this world that we developed our passion for exploring the Cosmos, and it is here that we are, in some pain and with no guarantees, working out our destiny.”
68. “We are alive and we resonate with the idea of life elsewhere, but only careful accumulation and assessment of the evidence can tell us whether a given world is inhabited.”
69. “The Earth was in darkness except for a patchwork and sprinkle of light, the plucky attempt of humans to compensate for the opacity of the Earth when their hemisphere was averted from the Sun.”
70. We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.
Carl Sagan Books
He also has a collection of insightful books that talk about the universe and finding your place in it.
1. Cosmos
2. Contact
3. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
4. Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
5. Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
Shining amidst so many stars might seem hard. But we hope that going through these Carl Sagan quotes must have surely made things easier for you. Don’t forget to share to your preferred social platform.
CSN Team.
