When we hear the name Carl Sagan we immediately think of science. Carl Sagan was not only a renowned science communicator; he was also a researcher, astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, and writer.
Explore our collection of Carl Sagan Quotes about life and science for inspiration.
If it can be destroyed by the truth, it deserves to be destroyed by the truth.
-Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan Quotes
1. “The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.” – Carl Sagan
2. “For all our failings, despite our limitations and fallibilities, we humans are capable of greatness.” – Carl Sagan
3. “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” – Carl Sagan
4. “It is said that men may not be the dreams of the god, but rather that the gods are the dreams of men.” – Carl Sagan
5. “The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it, but the way those atoms are put together.” – Carl Sagan
6. “If we continue to accumulate only power and not wisdom, we will surely destroy ourselves.” – Carl Sagan
7. “Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.” – Carl Sagan
8. “We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” – Carl Sagan
9. “We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.” – Carl Sagan
10. “Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.” – Carl Sagan
Inspirational Carl Sagan Quotes
11. “We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.” – Carl Sagan
12. “Science has carried human self-consciousness to a higher level. This is surely a rite of passage, a step towards maturity.” – Carl Sagan
13. “Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking.” – Carl Sagan
14.” Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” – Carl Sagan
15. “The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.” – Carl Sagan
16. “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” – Carl Sagan
17. “We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.” – Carl Sagan
18. “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” – Carl Sagan
19. “The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.” – Carl Sagan
20. “Science is an ongoing process. It never ends. There is no single ultimate truth to be achieved, after which all the scientists can retire.” – Carl Sagan
21. “Exploration is in our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars.” – Carl Sagan
22. “The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.” – Carl Sagan
23. “The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.” – Carl Sagan
24. “You have to know the past to understand the present.” – Carl Sagan
25. “But nature is always more subtle, more intricate, more elegant than what we are able to imagine.” – Carl Sagan
26. “Books are like seeds. They can lie dormant for centuries and then flower in the most unpromising soil.” – Carl Sagan
27. “Understanding is a kind of ecstasy.” – Carl Sagan
28. “Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic.” – Carl Sagan
29. “In all our searching, the only thing we’ve found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other.” – Carl Sagan
30. “Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors.” – Carl Sagan
31. “We are star stuff harvesting sunlight.” – Carl Sagan
32. “We are star stuff which has taken its destiny into its own hands.” – Carl Sagan
33. “There are wonders enough out there without our inventing any.” – Carl Sagan
34. “The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.” – Carl Sagan
35. “The visions we offer our children shape the future.” – Carl Sagan
36. “Science is based on experiment, on a willingness to challenge old dogma, on an openness to see the universe as it really is. Accordingly, science sometimes requires courage – at the very least the courage to question the conventional wisdom.” – Carl Sagan
37. “You can’t convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it’s based on a deep seated need to believe.” – Carl Sagan
38. “It’s hard to kill a creature once it lets you see its consciousness.” – Carl Sagan
39. “Across the sea of space, the stars are other suns.” – Carl Sagan
40. “Avoidable human misery is more often caused not so much by stupidity as by ignorance, particularly our ignorance about ourselves.” – Carl Sagan
41. “I’ve always thought an agnostic is an atheist without the courage of his convictions.” – Carl Sagan
42. “Better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy.” – Carl Sagan
43. “My wonder button is being pushed all the time.” – Carl Sagan
44. “All inquiries carry with them some element of risk.” – Carl Sagan
45. “If we go far enough back, any two people on Earth have a common ancestor.” – Carl Sagan
46. “Literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. But there are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom. But reading is still the path.” – Carl Sagan
47. “We must understand the Cosmos as it is and not confuse how it is with how we wish it to be.” – Carl Sagan
48. “It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science.” – Carl Sagan
49. “If we ruin the earth, there is no place else to go.” – Carl Sagan
50. “Any faith that admires truth, that strives to know God, must be brave enough to accommodate the universe.” – Carl Sagan
51. “The many sorrows of our recent history suggest that we humans have a learning disability.” – Carl Sagan
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