55 Carl Sagan Quotes on the Pale Blue Dot, the Cosmos and Humanity
Born in 1934 in Brooklyn, New York, Carl Sagan was an American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist and science author, best known for his scientific research on planetary atmospheres and extraterrestrial life.
From a very early age he expressed an interest about nature and the world, spending hours in the public library, the museum of natural history and the planetarium. However, his greatest passion was space exploration and understanding the mysteries of the planets.
A consultant and advisor to NASA, Sagan played a vital role in the American space program and set the foundations for planetary science and exobiology, the study of potential life on other planets. He published more than 600 scientific works, authored many science books and co-wrote and hosted the popular television series “Cosmos”.
He received numerous awards and medals, including a Pulitzer Prize, the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, and the National Academy of Sciences Public Welfare Medal. Carl Sagan died of pneumonia in 1996.
He was one of the most beloved scientists. The “astronomer of the people” popularized science through his TV series “Cosmos” and books like the “Dragons of Eden” and “Pale Blue Dot” and co-founded The Planetary Society, an organization promoting space exploration. An activist, strongly opposed to nuclear arms proliferation, Sagan was one of the first scientists to forewarn about the Greenhouse Effect and global warming.
Here we have curated for you the most inspirational quotes of this charismatic scientist and freethinker. Share them with loved ones and friends to motivate them! Use them as a caption to add sophistication to your Instagram and social media posts! Reflect upon them and transcend your perception of the possibilities of life!
Table of Contents
- Best Carl Sagan Quotes on Man, the Universe and the Human Search for Meaning
- Inspirational Carl Sagan Quotes on Science, Knowledge, Books and the Intellectual Endeavors of our Civilization
- Carl Sagan Famous Bamboozle Quote on Finding the Truth
- Carl Sagan Pale Blue Dot Quotes that will Broaden your Perspective about our place in the Universe
- Carl Sagan Cosmos Quotes that will boost your Awareness
Best Carl Sagan Quotes on Man, the Universe and the Human Search for Meaning
Here are the most exciting Sagan’s quotes that will make you evaluate your perceptions, convictions and values on life, love and humanity. Definitely food for thinking!
- Who are we, if not measured by our impact on others? Carl Sagan
- For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love. Carl Sagan
- Man is the matter of the cosmos, contemplating itself. Carl Sagan
- Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception. Carl Sagan
- The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. Carl Sagan
- I would rather be a transformed ape than a degenerate son of Adam. Carl Sagan
- The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent. Carl Sagan
- The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself. Carl Sagan
- It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. Carl Sagan
- I think if we ever reach the point where we think we thoroughly understand who we are and where we came from, we will have failed. Carl Sagan
- The nature of life on Earth and the search for life elsewhere are two sides of the same question—the search for who we are. Carl Sagan
- Our ancestors worshipped the Sun, and they were not that foolish. It makes sense to revere the Sun and the stars, for we are their children. Carl Sagan
Inspirational Carl Sagan Quotes on Science, Knowledge, Books and the Intellectual Endeavors of our Civilization
Read these quotes from a man who dedicated his life to scientific quest and knowledge – and appreciate the reformative power of learning.
- Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. Carl Sagan
- It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out. Carl Sagan
- Our passion for learning […] is our tool for survival. Carl Sagan
- Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic. Carl Sagan
- Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. Carl Sagan
- The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous. Carl Sagan
- Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but without it we go nowhere. Carl Sagan
- Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. Carl Sagan
- Intellectual capacity is no guarantee against being dead wrong. Carl Sagan
- If it can be destroyed by the truth, it deserves to be destroyed by the truth. Carl Sagan
- But knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable. Carl Sagan
- Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors. Carl Sagan
- Books are like seeds. They can lie dormant for centuries and then flower in the most unpromising soil. Carl Sagan
- Knowing a great deal is not the same as being smart; intelligence is not information alone but also judgement, the manner in which information is coordinated and used. Carl Sagan
- Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact. Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan Famous Bamboozle Quote on Finding the Truth
Humanity has been dragged down by false convictions too often in history; from now on we have to pay attention and recognize deception.
- One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back. Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan Pale Blue Dot Quotes that will Broaden your Perspective about our place in the Universe
Here you can read the famous pale blue dot quote about Earth and following a collection of the most influential Sagan’s quotes. Enjoy!
- Look again at that dot. 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. Carl Sagan
- The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Carl Sagan
- It does no harm to the romance of the sunset to know a little about it. Carl Sagan
- If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal. Carl Sagan
- Travel is broadening. It’s time to hit the road again. Carl Sagan
- The first law of bureaucracy is to guarantee its own continuance. Carl Sagan
- For all our failings, despite our limitations and fallibilities, we humans are capable of greatness. Carl Sagan
- Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the ‘Momentary’ masters of a ‘Fraction’ of a ‘Dot’. Carl Sagan
- The visions we offer our children shape the future. It matters what those visions are. Often they become self-fulfilling prophecies. Dreams are maps. Carl Sagan
- Modern science has been a voyage into the unknown, with a lesson in humility waiting at every stop. Many passengers would rather have stayed home. Carl Sagan
- On the scale of the worlds – to say nothing of stars or galaxies – humans are inconsequential, a thin film of life on an obscure and solitary lump of rock and metal. Carl Sagan
- Apart from a thin film of life at the very surface of the Earth, an occasional intrepid spacecraft, and some radio static, our impact on the Universe is nil. It knows nothing of us. Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan Cosmos Quotes that will boost your Awareness
Here you can read some mind-blowing quotes to prove that conscious observation leads to a deeper understanding of the Cosmic Interconnectedness.
- Every star may be a sun to someone. Carl Sagan
- We are star stuff which has taken its destiny into its own hands. Carl Sagan
- If we ruin the earth, there is no place else to go. Carl Sagan
- We are a way for the cosmos to know itself. Carl Sagan
- The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. Carl Sagan
- The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be. Carl Sagan
- Observation: I can’t see a thing. Conclusion: Dinosaurs. Carl Sagan
- If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. Carl Sagan
- We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers. Carl Sagan
- You are worth about 3 dollars’ worth in chemicals. Carl Sagan
- Atoms are mainly empty space. Matter is composed chiefly of nothing. Carl Sagan
- We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever. Carl Sagan
- The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it, but the way those atoms are put together. Carl Sagan
- Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another. Carl Sagan
- The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of star stuff. Carl Sagan
- 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
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