Carl Sagan Quotes, Inspirational Quotes, Motivational Quotes

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.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Inspirational Quotes , Motivational Quotes

The Earth is a place. It is by no means the only place. It is not even a typical place.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Mean Quotes , Typical Quotes

Billions and billions.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Astronomy Quotes , Billions Quotes

You mustn't think of the Universe as a wilderness. It hasn't been that for billions of years," he said. "Think of it more as... ..cultivated.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Thinking Quotes , Years Quotes

Human beings have a demonstrated talent for self-deception when their emotions are stirred.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Self Quotes , Deception Quotes

I believe our future depends powerfully on how well we understand this cosmos in which we float, like a mote of dust in the morning sky.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Morning Quotes , Believe Quotes

[N]o scientist likes to be criticized. ... But you don't reply to critics: "Wait a minute, wait a minute; this is a really good idea. I'm very fond of it. It's done you no harm. Please don't attack it." That's not the way it goes. The hard but just rule is that if the ideas don't work, you must throw them away. Don't waste any neurons on what doesn't work. Devote those neurons to new ideas that better explain the data. Valid criticism is doing you a favor.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Science Quotes , Data Quotes

Writing a novel is like trying to solve a very long mathematical equation. Changing anything can change everything else.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Writing Quotes , Mathematical Equations Quotes

If we do not speak for Earth, who will? If we are not committed to our own survival, who will be?

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Survival Quotes , Earth Quotes

Our intelligence is imperfect, surely, and newly arisen; the ease with which it can be sweet-talked, overwhelmed, or subverted by other hardwired propensities - sometimes themselves disguised as the cool light of reason - is worrisome.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Sweet Quotes , Truth Quotes

An extraterrestrial being, newly arrived on Earth - scrutinizing what we mainly present to our children in television, radio, movies, newspapers, magazines, the comics, and many books - might easily conclude that we are intent on teaching them murder, rape, cruelty, superstition, credulity, and consumerism. We keep at it, and through constant repetition many of them finally get it.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Children Quotes , Book Quotes

For all I know we may be visited by a different extraterrestrial civilization every second Tuesday, but there's no support for this appealing idea. The extraordinary claims are not supported by extraordinary evidence.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Civilization Quotes , Ideas Quotes

We can't help it. Life looks for life.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Looks Quotes , Helping Quotes

The dumbing down of America is evident in the slow decay of substantive content, a kind of celebration of ignorance.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Ignorance Quotes , America Quotes

Religions are often state-protected nurseries of pseudoscience, although there's no reason why religions have to play that role. In a way, it's an artefact from times long gone.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Play Quotes , Nurse Quotes

We are star stuff which has taken its destiny into its own hands. The loom of time and space works the most astonishing transformations of matter.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Stars Quotes , Taken Quotes

We invest far off places with a certain romance... Long summers, mild winters, rich harvests, plentiful game; none of them lasts for ever. Your own life, or your bands, or even your species - might be owed to a restless few, drawn by a craving they can hardly articulate or understand, to undiscovered lands, and new worlds.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Summer Quotes , Winter Quotes

[Science] is not perfect. It can be misused. It is only a tool. But it is by far the best tool we have, self-correcting, ongoing, applicable to everything. It has two rules. First: there are no sacred truths; all assumptions must be critically examined; arguments from authority are worthless. Second: whatever is inconsistent with the facts must be discarded or revised. ... The obvious is sometimes false; the unexpected is sometimes true.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Science Quotes , Self Quotes

I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Atheist Quotes , Science Quotes

The significance of our lives and our fragile planet is then determined only by our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life's meaning. We long for a Parent to care for us, to forgive us our errors, to save us from our childish mistakes. But knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable. If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Mistake Quotes , Ignorance Quotes