Astronomy Quote by Carl Sagan
“I never said it. Honest. Oh, I said there are maybe 100 billion galaxies and 10 billion trillion stars. It's hard to talk about the Cosmos without using big numbers. I said "billion" many times on the Cosmos television series, which was seen by a great many people. But I never said "billions and billions." For one thing, it's too imprecise. How many billions are "billions and billions"? A few billion? Twenty billion. A hundred billion? "Billions and billions" is pretty vague. When we reconfigured and updated the series, I checked-and sure enough, I never said it.”
About This Quote
Source TV Series: Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, 1980
Precise language matters; vague terms like “billions and billions” mislead understanding.
In simple terms: Avoid vague numbers for clarity.
Key Takeaway
Use specific data to communicate accurately.
Themes
science
communication
precision
Mood
inquisitive
analytical
Type
educational
scientific
When to use this quote
- education
- media reporting
- science outreach
- policy making
Key Concepts
numeracy
public understanding of science
Questions to Reflect On
- How can you convey scale without over‑simplifying?
- What is the impact of vague language on public trust?
A Different Perspective
Sometimes exact numbers are unavailable or unnecessary.
![“[ When a religious couple wrote to Sagan about fulfilled prophecies, he wrote back in May 1996 :] If ‘fulfilled prophecy’ is your criterion, why do you not believe in materialistic science, which has an unparalleled record of fulfilled prophecy? Consider, for example, eclipses.” quote by Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/875/carl-sagan-160_belief_when-a-religious-couple-wrote-to-sagan-a_25095.jpg)
