23 Famous Quotes by Carl Sagan
11/9/1934 - 12/20/1996
Also Known As:
Carl Edward Sagan
carl_sagan
Professions:
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About Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer and science communicator in astronomy and natural sciences. He spent most of his career as a professor of astronomy at Cornell University where he directed the Laboratory for Planetary Studies. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books. He advocated scientifically skeptical inquiry and the scientific method, pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.
Sagan is known for his popular science books and for the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which he narrated and co-wrote. The book Cosmos was published to accompany the series. Sagan wrote the novel Contact, the basis for a 1997 film of the same name.
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.
Science and technology
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We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology
Science
Quotes, by Carl Sagan
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Think of how many religions attempt to validate themselves with prophecy. Think of how many people rely on these prophecies, however vague, however unfulfilled, to support or prop up their beliefs. Yet has there ever been a religion with the prophetic accuracy and reliability of science?
Miscellaneous
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But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
Genius
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It is of interest to note that while some dolphins are reported to have learned English - up to fifty words used in correct context - no human being has been reported to have learned dolphinese.
Language
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All inquires carry with them some element of risk. There is no guarantee that the universe will conform to our predispositions.
Universe
Quotes, by Carl Sagan
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Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it, we go nowhere.
World
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Widespread intellectual and moral docility may be convenient for leaders in the short term, but it is suicidal for nations in the long term. One of the criteria for national leadership should therefore be a talent for understanding, encouraging, and making constructive use of vigorous criticism.
Miscellaneous
Quotes, by Carl Sagan
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For the first time, we have the power to decide the fate of our planet and ourselves, ... This is a time of great danger, but our species is young, and curious, and brave. It shows much promise.
Miscellaneous
Quotes, by Carl Sagan
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The significance of a finding that there are other beings who share this universe with us would be absolutely phenomenal, it would be an epochal event in human history,
Miscellaneous
Quotes, by Carl Sagan
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We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.
Miscellaneous
Quotes, by Carl Sagan
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In our time, we have sifted the sands of Mars, we have established a presence there, we have fulfilled a century of dreams!
Miscellaneous
Quotes, by Carl Sagan
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A central lesson of science is that to understand complex issues (or even simple ones), we must try to free our minds of dogma and to guarantee the freedom to publish, to contradict, and to experiment. Arguments from authority are unacceptable.
Miscellaneous
Quotes, by Carl Sagan
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I can find in my undergraduate classes, bright students who do not know that the stars rise and set at night, or even that the Sun is a star.
Miscellaneous
Quotes, by Carl Sagan
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