I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true. Carl Sagan More Quotes by Carl Sagan More Quotes From Carl Sagan We on Earth have just awakened to the great oceans of space and time from which we have emerged. We are the legacy of 15 billion years of cosmic evolution. We have a choice: We can enhance life and come to know the universe that made us, or we can squander our 15 billion-year heritage in meaningless self-destruction. What happens in the first second of the next cosmic year depends on what we do, here and now, with our intelligence and our knowledge of the cosmos. Carl Sagan ocean self years There is a reward structure in science that is very interesting: Our highest honors go to those who disprove the findings of the most revered among us. So Einstein is revered not just because he made so many fundamental contributions to science, but because he found an imperfection in the fundamental contribution of Isaac Newton. Carl Sagan imperfection science interesting Avoidable human misery is more often caused not so much by stupidity as by ignorance, particularly our ignorance about ourselves. Carl Sagan ignorance stupid science Every time you look up at the sky, every one of those points of light is a reminder that fusion power is extractable from hydrogen and other light elements, and it is an everyday reality throughout the Milky Way Galaxy. Carl Sagan light sky reality Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions. Carl Sagan cosmos reading writing There are huge advertising budgets only when there's no difference between the products. If the products really were different, people would buy the one that's better. Advertising teaches people not to trust their judgment. Advertising teaches people to be stupid. Carl Sagan differences stupid people It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science. Carl Sagan unexpected creativity science It's sometimes easier to reject strong evidence than to admit that we've been wrong, this is information about ourselves worth having. Carl Sagan information self-worth strong In Italy, the Inquisition was condemning people to death until the end of the eighteenth century, and inquisitional torture was not abolished in the Catholic Church until 1816. The last bastion of support for the reality of witchcraft and the necessity of punishment has been the Christian churches. Carl Sagan atheist christian reality The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Carl Sagan vastness cosmos earth Football is a thinly disguised re-enactment of hunting; we played it before we were human. Carl Sagan hunting football soccer I believe that part of what propels science is the thirst for wonder. It's a very powerful emotion. All children feel it. In a first grade classroom everybody feels it; in a twelfth grade classroom almost nobody feels it, or at least acknowledges it. Something happens between first and twelfth grade, and it's not just puberty. Not only do the schools and the media not teach much skepticism, there is also little encouragement of this stirring sense of wonder. Science and pseudoscience both arouse that feeling. Poor popularizations of science establish an ecological niche for pseudoscience. Carl Sagan powerful encouragement children Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. Carl Sagan fleeting cosmos comfort I'm only a four-dimensional creature. Haven't got a clue how to visualise infinity. Even Einstein hadn't. I know because I asked him Carl Sagan clue four infinity Scientists make mistakes. Accordingly, it is the job of the scientist to recognize our weakness, to examine the widest range of opinions, to be ruthlessly self-critical. Science is a collective enterprise with the error-correction machinery often running smoothly. Carl Sagan mistake running jobs Any civilization that doesn't develop space travel dies. Carl Sagan space-travel space civilization We humans appear on the cosmic calendar so recently that our recorded history occupies only the last few seconds of the last minute of December 31st. Carl Sagan december calendars lasts Religions are often state-protected nurseries of pseudoscience, although there's no reason why religions have to play that role. In a way, it's an artefact from times long gone. Carl Sagan nurse play long What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. ... Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic. Carl Sagan dark book years That kind of skeptical, questioning, "don't accept what authority tells you" attitude of science - is also nearly identical to the attitude of mind necessary for a functioning democracy. Science and democracy have very consonant values and approaches, and I don't think you can have one without the other. Carl Sagan democracies-have attitude thinking
