Cutting off fundamental, curiosity-driven science is like eating the seed corn. We may have a little more to eat next winter but what will we plant so we and our children will have enough to get through the winters to come?

Carl Sagan

Categorized in : Children Winter Cutting

A religion old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science, might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths. Sooner or later such a religion will emerge.

stressed science religion

The words "question" and "quest" are cognates. Only through inqui... by Carl Sagan

The words "question" and "quest" are cognates. Only through inquiry can we discover truth.

inquiry quests truth

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.

laughter brother funny

I also wish that the Pledge of Allegiance were directed at the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as it is when the President takes his oath of office, rather than to the flag and the nation

oath-of-office rights wish

We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. by Carl Sagan

We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still.

wanderers cosmos stills

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the... by Carl Sagan

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.

argument science ideas

While our behavior is still significantly controlled by our genetic inheritance, we have, through our brains, a much richer opportunity to blaze new behavioral and cultural pathways on short timescales.

brain opportunity science

Cosmos is a Greek word for the order of the universe. It is, in a way, the opposite of Chaos. It implies the deep interconnectedness of all things. It conveys awe for the intricate and subtle way in which the universe is put together.

greek opposites order

If you want to save your child from polio, you can pray or you ca... by Carl Sagan

If you want to save your child from polio, you can pray or you can inoculate....Try science.

atheist children religion

I set before you two ways: You can use your technology to destroy yourselves or to carry you to the planets and the stars. It's up to you.

technology stars two

If we are to survive, our loyalties must be broadened further, to include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth.

cosmos community loyalty

The visions we offer our children shape the future. by Carl Sagan

The visions we offer our children shape the future.

vision shapes children

The sky calls to us. If we do not destroy ourselves, we will one... by Carl Sagan

The sky calls to us. If we do not destroy ourselves, we will one day venture to the stars.

one-day stars sky

The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge; it has no in the endeavor of science. We do not know in advance who will discover fundamental insights.

science ideas knowledge

Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable. If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal.

custodians purpose goal

People are not stupid. They believe things for reasons. The last way for skeptics to get the attention of bright, curious, intelligent people is to belittle or condescend or to show arrogance toward their beliefs.

intelligent stupid believe

A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called "leaves") imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time ― proof that humans can work magic.

reading inspirational funny

The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human... by Carl Sagan

The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.

ambition perfect science

Except for children (who don't know enough not to ask the important questions), few of us spendtime wondering why nature is the way it is . . .

nature important children

But down deep, at the molecular heart of life we're essentially i... by Carl Sagan

But down deep, at the molecular heart of life we're essentially identical to trees.

identical heart tree