--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Science is more than a body of knowledge…" description: "\"“Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking.”\" — Carl Sagan" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68d/carl-sagan-160_knowledge_science-is-more-than-a-body-of-knowledge_838992.jpg" --- # Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of… ![“Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking.” quote by Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68d/carl-sagan-160_knowledge_science-is-more-than-a-body-of-knowledge_838992.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68d/carl-sagan-160_knowledge_science-is-more-than-a-body-of-knowledge_838992.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68d/carl-sagan-160_knowledge_science-is-more-than-a-body-of-knowledge_838992.jpg) > ““Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking.”” [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Science is not just facts but a disciplined way of thinking **In simple terms:** Science is a mindset, not just knowledge Key Takeaway Adopt scientific thinking in daily life Themes science methodology critical thinking education Mood inspirational educational Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - problem solving - education reform - public discourse Key Concepts Epistemology philosophy of science inquiry Questions to Reflect On - How can we teach scientific thinking? - What limits scientific reasoning? A Different Perspective Scientific thinking can be misapplied without humility ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) [Knowledge Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge-way-366875/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Science Body](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science-body-624964/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Way of thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way-of-thinking/) [Way Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way-thinking/) ## Related quotes > [Science is more than a body of knowledge. It's a way of thinking: a way of skeptically interrogating the universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/science-is-more-than-a-body-of-knowledge-it-s-a-way-of-thinking-a-way/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Science is much more than a body of knowledge. It is a way of thinking. This is central to its success. Science invites us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/science-is-much-more-than-a-body-of-knowledge-it-is-a-way-of-thinking/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“as I intend, you should begin to look with different eyes at your immediate surroundings, seeing not just leaves but yourself and everything around…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-vogel/as-i-intend-you-should-begin-to-look-with-different-eyes-at-your/) [Steven Vogel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-vogel/) > [“Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/science-is-more-than-a-body-of-knowledge-it-is-a-way-of-thinking-i/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/science-is-a-way-of-thinking-much-more-than-it-is-a-body-of-knowledge-2/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Science is a way of thinking that helps you not to fool yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/science-is-a-way-of-thinking-that-helps-you-not-to-fool-yourself/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“There are many different kinds of knowledge. The way of the heart and spirit can guide us in a more trustworthy way than the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lakota-sioux-buck-ghosthorse/there-are-many-different-kinds-of-knowledge-the-way-of-the-heart-and/) [Lakota Sioux Buck Ghosthorse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lakota-sioux-buck-ghosthorse/) > [Science is not a body of facts. Science is a state of mind. It is a way of viewing the world, of facing reality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-angier/science-is-not-a-body-of-facts-science-is-a-state-of-mind-it-is-a-way/) [Natalie Angier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-angier/) > [Share your knowledge its a way to achieve immortality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shubhi-sharma/share-your-knowledge-its-a-way-to-achieve-immortality/) [Shubhi Sharma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shubhi-sharma/) > [Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/share-your-knowledge-it-is-a-way-to-achieve-immortality/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The only ways of enquiry that lead to knowledge... the one way assuming that being is and that it is impossible for it not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/parmedides/the-only-ways-of-enquiry-that-lead-to-knowledge-the-one-way-assuming/) [Parmedides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/parmedides/) > [Our experience with knowledge, the way we know things, is not that neat. It doesn't fit into a grand narrative, the way we've been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-misrach/our-experience-with-knowledge-the-way-we-know-things-is-not-that-neat/) [Richard Misrach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-misrach/) > [“You cannot think your way into a new way of acting, but you can act your way into a new way of thinking.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-cannot-think-your-way-into-a-new-way-of-acting-but-you-can-act/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“If you change your way of thinking and being, you will change your way of seeing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/comic-strip-mama/if-you-change-your-way-of-thinking-and-being-you-will-change-your-way/) [Comic Strip Mama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/comic-strip-mama/) > [“Intelligence is a way of thinking, not a choice of words.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/intelligence-is-a-way-of-thinking-not-a-choice-of-words/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) ## More by Carl Sagan > [It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/it-is-sometimes-said-that-scientists-are-unromantic-that-their/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [The prediction of nuclear winter is drawn not, of course, from any direct experience with the consequences of global nuclear war, but rather from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-prediction-of-nuclear-winter-is-drawn-not-of-course-from-any/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge; it has no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-suppression-of-uncomfortable-ideas-may-be-common-in-religion-or/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“Telepathy’ literally means to feel at a distance, just as ‘telephone’ is to hear at a distance and ‘television’ is to see at a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/telepathy-literally-means-to-feel-at-a-distance-just-as-telephone-is/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/on-the-scale-of-worlds-to-say-nothing-of-stars-or-galaxies-humans-are/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/every-one-of-us-is-in-the-cosmic-perspective-precious-if-a-human/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [In our time, we have sifted the sands of Mars, we have established a presence there, we have fulfilled a century of dreams!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/in-our-time-we-have-sifted-the-sands-of-mars-we-have-established-a/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [ “\[ When a religious couple wrote to Sagan about fulfilled prophecies, he wrote back in May 1996 :\] If ‘fulfilled prophecy’ is your criterion,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/when-a-religious-couple-wrote-to-sagan-about-fulfilled-prophecies-he/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Don't judge everyone else by your own limited experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/don-t-judge-everyone-else-by-your-own-limited-experience/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors. The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/books-permit-us-to-voyage-through-time-to-tap-the-wisdom-of-our/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [We live on a hunk of rock and metal that circles a humdrum star that is one of 400 billion other stars that make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/we-live-on-a-hunk-of-rock-and-metal-that-circles-a-humdrum-star-that/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/a-tiny-blue-dot-set-in-a-sunbeam-here-it-is-that-s-where-we-live-that/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Any sufficiently crisp question can be answered by a single binary digit-0 or 1, yes or no.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/any-sufficiently-crisp-question-can-be-answered-by-a-single-binary/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Humans — who enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals — have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/humans-who-enslave-castrate-experiment-on-and-fillet-other-animals/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Every star may be a sun to someone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/every-star-may-be-a-sun-to-someone/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) [Explore all 1,043 Carl Sagan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) ## More Knowledge quotes > [“Knowledge without conscience is but the ruin of the soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabelaise/knowledge-without-conscience-is-but-the-ruin-of-the-soul/) [Rabelaise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabelaise/) > [For successful education there must always be a certain freshness in the knowledge dealt with. It must be either new in itself or invested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-north-whitehead/for-successful-education-there-must-always-be-a-certain-freshness-in/) [Alfred North Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-north-whitehead/) > [Nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature... what compulsions drive a man, what instincts dominate his action. If you know these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-bernbach/nothing-is-so-powerful-as-an-insight-into-human-nature-what/) [William Bernbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-bernbach/) > [But I already saw no great difference between the psyche and spirituality. To amass knowledge without becoming wise is not my idea of progress…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-scott-peck/but-i-already-saw-no-great-difference-between-the-psyche-and/) [M. Scott Peck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-scott-peck/) > [If we will not interfere with our thought, but will act entirely, or see how the thing stands in God, we know the particular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-we-will-not-interfere-with-our-thought-but-will-act-entirely-or/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [An enlightened awareness is within each one of us, right at this moment. This enlightened awareness is truly unborn and marvellously illuminating; and everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bankei-yotaku/an-enlightened-awareness-is-within-each-one-of-us-right-at-this/) [Bankei Yotaku](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bankei-yotaku/) > [One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-of-the-deepest-and-strangest-of-all-human-moods-is-the-mood-which/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“I never knew any man who had once tasted the sweetness of experimental knowledge, that ever afterward fasted after ye Vapour garlick and onions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-zimmer/i-never-knew-any-man-who-had-once-tasted-the-sweetness-of/) [Carl Zimmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-zimmer/) > [I would rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent than in the extent of my powers and dominion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-the-great/i-would-rather-excel-others-in-the-knowledge-of-what-is-excellent/) [Alexander the Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-the-great/) > [We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/we-know-accurately-only-when-we-know-little-with-knowledge-doubt/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [I've always been a believer in research. It's great to have an instinctual human reaction to a character, too, of course, but it has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chiwetel-ejiofor/i-ve-always-been-a-believer-in-research-it-s-great-to-have-an/) [Chiwetel Ejiofor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chiwetel-ejiofor/) > [I am an aware citizen, so I want my characters to be aware, too. They should be aware of what's happening in the society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-tripathi/i-am-an-aware-citizen-so-i-want-my-characters-to-be-aware-too-they/) [Pankaj Tripathi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-tripathi/) > [Technology means the systematic application of scientific or other organized knowledge to practical tasks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/technology-means-the-systematic-application-of-scientific-or-other/) [John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/) > [Love is a vision,love carry our vision,and love by-step our vision. we carry our love to our by-step. once love is vision love is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/love-is-a-vision-love-carry-our-vision-and-love-by-step-our-vision-we/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Man is an ignoramus athirst for knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-wagner/man-is-an-ignoramus-athirst-for-knowledge/) [Charles Wagner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-wagner/) [Browse all 13,227 Knowledge quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Carl Sagan" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/science-is-more-than-a-body-of-knowledge-it-is-a-way-of-thinking/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Knowledge" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/science-is-more-than-a-body-of-knowledge-it-is-a-way-of-thinking/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68d/carl-sagan-160_knowledge_science-is-more-than-a-body-of-knowledge_838992.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68d/carl-sagan-160_knowledge_science-is-more-than-a-body-of-knowledge_838992.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68d/carl-sagan-160_knowledge_science-is-more-than-a-body-of-knowledge_838992.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking.” — Carl Sagan", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Carl Sagan", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Science is more than a body...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/science-is-more-than-a-body-of-knowledge-it-is-a-way-of-thinking/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/science-is-more-than-a-body-of-knowledge-it-is-a-way-of-thinking/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```