Carl Sagan Quotes, Book Quotes, Dark Quotes

What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. ... Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.

5 years ago

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Book Quotes , Dark Quotes

Science is a way to call the bluff of those who only pretend to knowledge. It is a bulwark against mysticism, against superstition, against religion misapplied to where it has no business being.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Superstitions Quotes , Way Quotes

I don't know the answer. Maybe no one knows. Maybe when you grow up, you'll be the first to find out.

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To read is to voyage through time.

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In Mozambique, the story goes, monkeys do not talk, because they know if they utter even a single word some man will come and put them to work.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Men Quotes , Mozambique Quotes

I believe that the extraordinary should be pursued. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Believe Quotes , Science Quotes

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 power. But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then those in power work for us. In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Country Quotes , Children Quotes

In the vastness of space and the immensity of time, it is my joy to share a planet and an epoch with Annie.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Time Quotes , Space Quotes

My fundamental premise about the brain is that its workings - what we sometimes call "mind" - are a consequence of its anatomy and physiology, and nothing more.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Anatomy And Physiology Quotes , Brain Quotes

I promise to question everything my leaders tell me. I promise to use my critical faculties. I promise to develop my independence of thought. I promise to educate myself so I can make my own judgments.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Leader Quotes , Independence Quotes

Maxwell's Equations have had a greater impact on human history than any ten presidents.

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All over the world there are enormous numbers of smart, even gifted, people who harbor a passion for science. But that passion is unrequited. Surveys suggest that some 95% of Americans are "scientifically illiterate." That's...the same fraction...of slaves who were illiterate before the Civil War.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , War Quotes , Smart Quotes

The open road still softly calls.

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There are as many atoms in one molecule of DNA as there are stars in a typical galaxy.

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All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value.

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There is perhaps no better a demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Space Quotes , Earth Day Quotes

Humans — who enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals — have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain. A sharp distinction between humans and 'animals' is essential if we are to bend them to our will, make them work for us, wear them, eat them — without any disquieting tinges of guilt or regret. It is unseemly of us, who often behave so unfeelingly toward other animals, to contend that only humans can suffer. The behavior of other animals renders such pretensions specious. They are just too much like us.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Pain Quotes , Regret Quotes

Discussing the possibilities of extraterrestrial life: I would love it even if they were short, sullen, grumpy and sexually obsessed. But there just isn't any good evidence.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Life Quotes , Sullen Quotes

Nothing disturbs me more than the glorification of stupidity.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Stupidity Quotes

If intelligence is our only edge, we must learn to use it better, to shape it, to understand its limitations and deficiencies -- to use it as cats use stealth, as katydids use camouflage -- to make it the tool of our survival.

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Tags : Carl Sagan Quotes , Cat Quotes , Survival Quotes