--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We humans appear on the cosmic calendar…" description: "\"We humans appear on the cosmic calendar so recently that our recorded history occupies only the last few seconds of the last minute of December 31st.\" ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bf7/carl-sagan-160_calendars_we-humans-appear-on-the-cosmic-calendar_3191065.jpg" --- # We humans appear on the cosmic calendar so recently that… ![“We humans appear on the cosmic calendar so recently that our recorded history occupies only the last few seconds of the last minute of December 31st.” quote by Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bf7/carl-sagan-160_calendars_we-humans-appear-on-the-cosmic-calendar_3191065.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bf7/carl-sagan-160_calendars_we-humans-appear-on-the-cosmic-calendar_3191065.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bf7/carl-sagan-160_calendars_we-humans-appear-on-the-cosmic-calendar_3191065.jpg) > “We humans appear on the cosmic calendar so recently that our recorded history occupies only the last few seconds of the last minute of December 31st.” [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. It highlights how brief humanity’s recorded history is compared to the vast cosmic timeline. **In simple terms:** Human history is a tiny fraction of cosmic time. Key Takeaway Recognize our fleeting place in the universe. Themes history cosmos humility time Mood awe thoughtful Type inspirational philosophical When to use this quote - education - philosophy - science communication Key Concepts scale perspective Questions to Reflect On - What does this perspective change about your priorities? - How can we balance humility with agency? A Different Perspective The metaphor may oversimplify complex historical narratives. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Calendar Recently](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/calendar-recently-5885687/) [Calendars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/calendars/) [Cosmic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cosmic/) [Cosmic Calendar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cosmic-calendar-3066089/) [December](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/december/) [December 31St](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/december-31st-811320/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Last minute](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/last-minute/) [Lasts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lasts/) [Minute December](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/minute-december-5885686/) [Minutes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/minutes/) [Seconds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seconds/) ## Related quotes > [The cosmic calendar compresses the local history of the universe into a single year. If the universe began on January 1st it was not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-cosmic-calendar-compresses-the-local-history-of-the-universe-into/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [The cosmic calendar is quite a fertile mode for communicating how small we are over time and space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/the-cosmic-calendar-is-quite-a-fertile-mode-for-communicating-how/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [The world will end on December 31st, 2099, because that is the date when the Windows calender stops... lovewindows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-world-will-end-on-december-31st-2099-because-that-is-the-date/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [My Dear Girlfriend, I Would Like To Kiss You On December 31st From 11:59 Pm To 12:01 Am So I Can Boast An Immense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/my-dear-girlfriend-i-would-like-to-kiss-you-on-december-31st-from-11/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“When you have a bad year, there is this need to package it up and write it off-as I have done in the past.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-k-munt/when-you-have-a-bad-year-there-is-this-need-to-package-it-up-and/) [S.K. Munt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-k-munt/) > [Go to the bathroom in December 31st at 12:56 pm come out january 1st 1:02 am and say](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author-name/go-to-the-bathroom-in-december-31st-at-12-56-pm-come-out-january-1st/) [Author Name](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/author-name/) > [“I want to kiss you on December 31st from 11:59 P.M. to 12:01 A.M. so I can have a great ending to 2014 and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amany-al-hallaq/i-want-to-kiss-you-on-december-31st-from-11-59-p-m-to-12-01-a-m-so-i/) [Amany Al-Hallaq](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amany-al-hallaq/) > [I write everything down. I e-mail the second I think of something, or I write notes in my BlackBerry calendar. I set up reminder…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giada-de-laurentiis/i-write-everything-down-i-e-mail-the-second-i-think-of-something-or-i/) [Giada De Laurentiis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giada-de-laurentiis/) > [Before we invented civilization our ancestors lived mainly in the open out under the sky. Before we devised artificial lights and atmospheric pollution and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/before-we-invented-civilization-our-ancestors-lived-mainly-in-the/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [I have now been an officer in this Church for a very long time. I am an old man who cannot deny the calendar.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-b-hinckley/i-have-now-been-an-officer-in-this-church-for-a-very-long-time-i-am/) [Gordon B. Hinckley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gordon-b-hinckley/) > [It is not without trepidation that I have appropriated the codes of the Sublime and the Picturesque in my work. After all, serious photographers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-pfahl/it-is-not-without-trepidation-that-i-have-appropriated-the-codes-of/) [John Pfahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-pfahl/) > [There are only two days on my calendar... today and the day of judgment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/there-are-only-two-days-on-my-calendar-today-and-the-day-of-judgment/) [Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/) > [The ways in which acquired savants show up are usually the same ways that congenital, or non-acquired, savant syndrome shows up. They tend to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darold-treffert/the-ways-in-which-acquired-savants-show-up-are-usually-the-same-ways/) [Darold Treffert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darold-treffert/) > [The battle for our hearts is fought on the pages of our calendar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-goff/the-battle-for-our-hearts-is-fought-on-the-pages-of-our-calendar/) [Bob Goff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-goff/) > [To divide one's life by years is of course to tumble into a trap set by our own arithmetic. The calendar consents to carry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifton-fadiman/to-divide-one-s-life-by-years-is-of-course-to-tumble-into-a-trap-set/) [Clifton Fadiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifton-fadiman/) ## 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 Calendars quotes > [To divide one's life by years is of course to tumble into a trap set by our own arithmetic. The calendar consents to carry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifton-fadiman/to-divide-one-s-life-by-years-is-of-course-to-tumble-into-a-trap-set/) [Clifton Fadiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifton-fadiman/) > [The battle for our hearts is fought on the pages of our calendar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-goff/the-battle-for-our-hearts-is-fought-on-the-pages-of-our-calendar/) [Bob Goff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-goff/) > [The ways in which acquired savants show up are usually the same ways that congenital, or non-acquired, savant syndrome shows up. They tend to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darold-treffert/the-ways-in-which-acquired-savants-show-up-are-usually-the-same-ways/) [Darold Treffert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darold-treffert/) > [There are only two days on my calendar... today and the day of judgment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/there-are-only-two-days-on-my-calendar-today-and-the-day-of-judgment/) [Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/) > [It is not without trepidation that I have appropriated the codes of the Sublime and the Picturesque in my work. After all, serious photographers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-pfahl/it-is-not-without-trepidation-that-i-have-appropriated-the-codes-of/) [John Pfahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-pfahl/) > [I have now been an officer in this Church for a very long time. I am an old man who cannot deny the calendar.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-b-hinckley/i-have-now-been-an-officer-in-this-church-for-a-very-long-time-i-am/) [Gordon B. Hinckley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gordon-b-hinckley/) > [More software projects have gone awry for lack of calendar time than for all other causes combined.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-brooks/more-software-projects-have-gone-awry-for-lack-of-calendar-time-than/) [Fred Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-brooks/) > [I've never been one of those who wanted to fill my calendar up 90 percent of the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-gottfried/i-ve-never-been-one-of-those-who-wanted-to-fill-my-calendar-up-90/) [Gilbert Gottfried](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-gottfried/) > [There is a small segment of people with autism that have savant skills, where they can memorize entire maps of whole entire city. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/temple-grandin/there-is-a-small-segment-of-people-with-autism-that-have-savant/) [Temple Grandin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/temple-grandin/) > [Time, by moments, steals away, First the hour, and then the day; Small the daily loss appears, Yet it soon amounts to years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-newton/time-by-moments-steals-away-first-the-hour-and-then-the-day-small-the/) [John Newton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-newton/) > [Chronological time is what we measure by clocks and calendars; it is always linear, orderly, quantifiable, and mechanical. Kairotic time is organic, rhythmic, bodily,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-keen/chronological-time-is-what-we-measure-by-clocks-and-calendars-it-is/) [Sam Keen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-keen/) > [The calendar? A mere convention.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irina-ratushinskaya/the-calendar-a-mere-convention/) [Irina Ratushinskaya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irina-ratushinskaya/) > [Next time!' In what calendar are kept the records of those next times which never come?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-hunt-jackson/next-time-in-what-calendar-are-kept-the-records-of-those-next-times/) [Helen Hunt Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-hunt-jackson/) > [I saw a close friend of mine the other day. . . . He said, "Stephen, why haven't you called me?" I said, "I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-wright/i-saw-a-close-friend-of-mine-the-other-day-he-said-stephen-why-haven/) [Steven Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-wright/) > [“A story conducted by the time of a clock and calendars alone would be a story not of human beings but of mechanical toys.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/a-story-conducted-by-the-time-of-a-clock-and-calendars-alone-would-be/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) [Browse all 258 Calendars quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/calendars/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We humans appear on the cosmic calendar so recently that our recorded history occupies only the last few seconds of the last minute of December 31st.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Carl Sagan" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/we-humans-appear-on-the-cosmic-calendar-so-recently-that-our-recorded/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Calendars" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/we-humans-appear-on-the-cosmic-calendar-so-recently-that-our-recorded/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bf7/carl-sagan-160_calendars_we-humans-appear-on-the-cosmic-calendar_3191065.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bf7/carl-sagan-160_calendars_we-humans-appear-on-the-cosmic-calendar_3191065.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bf7/carl-sagan-160_calendars_we-humans-appear-on-the-cosmic-calendar_3191065.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We humans appear on the cosmic calendar so recently that our recorded history occupies only the last few…” — 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": "We humans appear on the cosmic...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/we-humans-appear-on-the-cosmic-calendar-so-recently-that-our-recorded/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/we-humans-appear-on-the-cosmic-calendar-so-recently-that-our-recorded/#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 } } ] } ```