Much of human history can, I think, be described as a gradual and sometimes painful liberation from provincialism, the emerging awareness that… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
So those who wished for some central cosmic purpose for us, or at least our world, or at least our solar system,… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
Books tap the wisdom of our species -- the greatest minds, the best teachers -- from all over the world and from… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
There are naive questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is a cry to understand the… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
A tiny blue dot set in a sunbeam. Here it is. That's where we live. That's home. We humans are one species… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
Personally, I would be delighted if there were a life after death, especially if it permitted me to continue to learn about… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
When you buy a used car, you kick the tires, you look at the odometer, you open up the hood. If you… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
Since World War II, Japan has spawned enormous numbers of new religions featuring the supernatural… In Thailand, diseases are treated with pills… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
Since, in the long run, every planetary civilization will be endangered by impacts from space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. You become a crotchety old person convinced that… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
If we can't think for ourselves, if we're unwilling to question authority, then we're just putty in the hands of those in… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
Quickly capping 363 oil well fires in a war zone is impossible. The fires would burn out of control until they put… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
The reappearance of the crescent moon after the new moon; the return of the Sun after a total eclipse, the rising of… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
Every aspect of Nature reveals a deep mystery and touches our sense of wonder and awe. Those afraid of the universe as… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. Its goal is to find out how… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
Eratosthenes was the director of the great library of Alexandria, the Centre of science and learning in the ancient world. Aristotle had… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
By exploring other worlds we safeguard this one. By itself, I think this fact more than justifies the money our species has… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
“It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
“The Earth is the only world known so far to harbour life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future,… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
The prediction of nuclear winter is drawn not, of course, from any direct experience with the consequences of global nuclear war, but rather from… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge; it has no… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
“Telepathy’ literally means to feel at a distance, just as ‘telephone’ is to hear at a distance and ‘television’ is to see at a… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
“On the scale of worlds—to say nothing of stars or galaxies—humans are inconsequential, a thin film of life on an obscure and solitary lump… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies,… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
In our time, we have sifted the sands of Mars, we have established a presence there, we have fulfilled a century of dreams! — Carl Sagan Copy Share
“[ When a religious couple wrote to Sagan about fulfilled prophecies, he wrote back in May 1996 :] If ‘fulfilled prophecy’ is your criterion,… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
“Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors. The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
We live on a hunk of rock and metal that circles a humdrum star that is one of 400 billion other stars that make… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
A tiny blue dot set in a sunbeam. Here it is. That's where we live. That's home. We humans are one species and this… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
Any sufficiently crisp question can be answered by a single binary digit-0 or 1, yes or no. — Carl Sagan Copy Share
Humans — who enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals — have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain.… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
![“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…” quote by Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c27/carl-sagan-160_atheist_since-world-war-ii-japan-has-spawned-eno_2437563.jpg)
![“Quickly capping 363 oil well fires in a war zone is impossible. The fires would burn out of control until they put themselves out... The resulting soot might well stretch over all of South Asia... It could be carried around the world... [and] the consequences could be dire. Beneath such a pall…” quote by Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a7d/carl-sagan-160_around-the-world_quickly-capping-363-oil-well-fires-in-a_1517692.jpg)
