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c6e2900 Christianity may be good and Satanism evil. Under the Constitution, however, both are neutral. This is an important, but difficult, concept for many law enforcement officers to accept. They are paid to uphold the penal code, not the Ten Commandments ... The fact is that far more crime and child abuse has been committed by zealots in the name of God, Jesus and Mohammed than has ever been committed in the name of Satan. Many people don't like.. jesus religion god satanism separation-of-church-and-state satan mohammed constitution zealots Carl Sagan
e9e8ce1 But I try not to think with my gut. If I'm serious about understanding the world, thinking with anything besides my brain, as tempting as that might be, is likely to get me into trouble. Carl Sagan
11e5392 The lifetime of a human being is measured by decades, the lifetime of the Sun is a hundred million times longer. Compared to a star, we are like mayflies, fleeting ephemeral creatures who live out their lives in the course of a single day. science life human-life Carl Sagan
45c6854 Coal, oil and gas are called fossil fuels, because they are mostly made of the fossil remains of beings from long ago. The chemical energy within them is a kind of stored sunlight originally accumulated by ancient plants. Our civilization runs by burning the remains of humble creatures who inhabited the Earth hundreds of millions of years before the first humans came on the scene. Like some ghastly cannibal cult, we subsist on the dead bodi.. conservation fossil-fuels gasoline Carl Sagan
153ce58 Those at too great a distance may, I am well are, mistake ignorance for perspective. education informed rational debate perspective ignorance knowledge Carl Sagan
ed28c2d The reappearance of the crescent moon after the new moon; the return of the Sun after a total eclipse, the rising of the Sun in the morning after its troublesome absence at night were noted by people around the world; these phenomena spoke to our ancestors of the possibility of surviving death. Up there in the skies was also a metaphor of immortality. immortality science Carl Sagan
50fe3d9 We are the local embodiment of a Cosmos grown to self-awareness. We have begun to contemplate our origins: starstuff pondering the stars; organized assemblages of ten billion billion billion atoms considering the evolution of atoms; tracing the long journey by which, here at least, consciousness arose. Our loyalties are to the species and the planet. speak for Earth. Our obligation to survive is owed not just to ourselves but also to that.. Carl Sagan
df8aa79 If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits? Carl Sagan
2cd1c38 science criteria eclipses fulfilled-prophecies materialistic-science prophecies record materialism Carl Sagan
1e7fbed I've always thought an agnostic is an atheist without the courage of his convictions. Carl Sagan
ee4c320 We make our purpose. life purpose Carl Sagan
b61825a We humans look rather different from a tree. Without a doubt we perceive the world differently than a tree does. But down deep, at the molecular heart of life, the trees and we are essentially identical. Carl Sagan
75d3a2c If we continue to accumulate only power and not wisdom, we will surely destroy ourselves. Our very existence in that distant time requires that we will have changed our institutions and ourselves. How can I dare to guess about humans in the far future? It is, I think, only a matter of natural selection. If we become even slightly more violent, shortsighted, ignorant, and selfish than we are now, almost certainly we will have no future. Carl Sagan
4bf1c1b Consider again that dot [Earth]. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple .. science Carl Sagan
2dc3a67 Arguments from authority carry little weight - authorities have made mistakes in the past. They will do so again in the future. Perhaps a better way to say it is that in science there are no authorities; at most, there are experts. science carl-sagan Carl Sagan
c373db3 A galaxy is composed of gas and dust and stars - billions upon billions of stars. Every star may be a sun to someone. unknown Carl Sagan
1e57939 I would suggest that science is, at least in my part, informed worship. existence science cosmos cosmology informed knowledge Carl Sagan
14e3227 Science is an attempt, largely successful, to understand the world, to get a grip on things, to get hold of ourselves, to steer a safe course. Microbiology and meteorology now explain what only a few centuries ago was considered sufficient cause to burn women to death. learning science Carl Sagan
7f57df9 I don't think science is hard to teach because humans aren't ready for it, or because it arose only through a fluke, or because, by and large, we don't have the brainpower to grapple with it. Instead, the enormous zest for science that I see in first-graders and the lesson from the remnant hunter-gatherers both speak eloquently: A proclivity for science is embedded deeply within us, in all times, places, and cultures. It has been the means .. human science intelligence Carl Sagan
96c16a3 And you are made of a hundred trillion cells. We are, each of us, a multitude. science Carl Sagan
f2ca487 At the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes--an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense. science truth open-minded counterintuitive skeptical scrutiny open-mindedness skepticism ideas nonsense Carl Sagan
79867a1 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? ... No other human institution comes close. reason science sense-of-wonder scientific-method science-vs-religion transcendence Carl Sagan
7781af9 For all its material advantages, the sedentary life has left us edgy, unfulfilled. Even after 400 generations in villages and cities, we haven't forgotten. The open road still softly calls, like a nearly forgotten song of childhood. We invest far-off places with a certain romance. This appeal, I suspect, has been meticulously crafted by natural selection as an essential element in our survival. Long summers, mild winters, rich harvests, ple.. wanderers space Carl Sagan
d50e944 If we ruin the earth, there is no place else to go Carl Sagan
7292425 Every thinking person fears nuclear war, and every technological state plans for it. Everyone knows it is madness, and every nation has an excuse Carl Sagan
36ce54f Nevertheless, (Jefferson) believed that the habit of skepticism is an essential prerequisite for responsible citizenship. He argued that the cost of education is trivial compared to the cost of ignorance, of leaving government to the wolves. He taught that the country is safe only when the people rule. skepticism thomas-jefferson ignorance Carl Sagan
18e2c76 But, Jefferson worried that the people - and the argument goes back to Thucydides and Aristotle - are easily misled. He also stressed, passionately and repeatedly, that it was essential for the people to understand the risks and benefits of government, to educate themselves, and to involve themselves in the political process. Without that, he said, the wolves will take over. politics thomas-jefferson government Carl Sagan
9146bd4 Human history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group. Initially our loyalties were to ourselves and our immediate family, next, to bands of wandering hunter-gatherers, then to tribes, small settlements, city-states, nations. We have broadened the circle of those we love. We have now organized what are modestly described as super-powers, which include groups of people from divergent ethnic and cultu.. fear sharing peace power Carl Sagan
aff3e49 Even if we ourselves are not personally scandalized by the notion of other animals as close relatives, even if our age has accommodated to the idea, the passionate resistance of so many of us, in so many epochs and cultures, and by so many distinguished scholars, must say something important about us. What can we learn about ourselves from an apparent error so widespread, propagated by so many leading philosophers and scientists, both ancie.. speciesism Carl Sagan Ann Druyan
cde2792 Science exacts a substantial entry fee in effort and tedium in exchange for its insights. Carl Sagan Ann Druyan
d14fb13 Essa e uma das razoes pelas quais as religioes organizadas nao me inspiram confianca. Que lideres dos principais credos reconhecem que suas crencas talvez sejam incompletas ou erroneas, e criam institutos para revelar possiveis deficiencias doutrinarias? Alem do teste da vida cotidiana, quem verifica sistematicamente as circunstancias em que os ensinamentos religiosos tradicionais talvez ja nao se apliquem? (E concebivel que as doutrinas e .. Carl Sagan
e610b1c Taken together, the dramatic societal shifts - often in ten generations or less - provide a compelling refutation of the claim that we are condemned, without hope of reprieve, to live out our lives in a barely disguised chimpanzee social order. Moreover, the shifts are occurring so swiftly that they cannot possibly be due to natural selection. Instead our culture must be drawing forth propensities and predispositions that already reside dee.. Carl Sagan Ann Druyan
2997a8d Taken together, the dramatic societal shifts - often in ten generations or less - provide a compelling refutation of the claim that we are condemned, without hope of reprieve, to live out our lives in a barely disguised chimpanzee social order. Carl Sagan Ann Druyan
ad59697 Pero la vida no sabe a donde se dirige. No tiene un plan a largo plazo. No tiene una finalidad en mente. No tiene una finalidad en mente. No hay mente que abrigue una finalidad. (...) La vida es derrochadora, ciega, indiferente en este nivel a las nociones de justicia. science Carl Sagan e Ann Druyan
103304a The dangers that we face are part of the process, now well underway, of the unification of the planet--in language, culture, science, and commerce. They are both driven by the identical technological advances--this critical and delicate time coincides with the widespread availability of nuclear weapons. At the present rate of change, it seems likely that in the period between now and 2061, the turning point for the human species will have b.. humanity science inspirationalal human-species comet survival Carl Sagan Ann Druyan
0abee88 In the spring of 1974 about two years before the Viking spacecraft landed on Mars, I was at a meeting in England sponsored by the Royal Society of London to explore the question of how to search for extraterrestrial life. During a coffee break, I noticed that a much larger meeting was being held in an adjacent hall, which out of curiosity I entered. I soon realized that I was witnessing one of the most ancient scholarly organizations on the.. Carl Sagan
1f3e99f Something dreadful happens to students between first and twelfth grades, and it's not just puberty. Carl Sagan
1856c88 I think people in power have a vested interest to oppose critical thinking. Carl Sagan
78f044a Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Carl Sagan
a5aa3d2 Those at too great a distance may, I am well aware, mistake ignorance for perspective. Carl Sagan
8fe0aac Anatomy is not destiny, but it is not irrelevant either. Carl Sagan
ad2780f Broca was quoted as saying, "I would rather be a transformed ape than a degenerate son of Adam." Carl Sagan
74e92c2 People are rarely grateful for a demonstration of their credulity. Carl Sagan
07c28ef The best antidote for pseudoscience, I firmly believe, is science. Carl Sagan
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