1,131 Quotes by Carl Sagan

Do dogs feel for humans something akin to religious ecstasy? What other strong or subtle emotions are felt by animals that do not communicate with us?

Perhaps the locale of the subjunctive mood willone day be found. Will Latins turn out to be extravagantly endowed and English-speaking peoples significantly short-changed in this minor piece of brain anatomy?

Our difficulties in understanding or effectuatingcommunication with other animals may arise from our reluctance to grasp unfamiliar ways of dealing with the world.

Science cuts two ways, of course; its products can be used for both good and evil. But there's no turning back from science.

As science advances, there seems to be less and less for God to do. It's a big universe, of course, so He, She, or It, could be profitably employed in many places. But what has clearly been happening is that evolving before our eyes has been a God of the Gaps; that is, whatever it is we cannot explain lately is attributed to God. And then after a while, we explain it, and so that's no longer God's realm.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

A sedução do maravilhoso embota nossas faculdades críticas.

Neuroanatomy, political history, and introspection all offer evidence that human beings are quite capable of resisting the urge to surrender to every impulse of reptilian core of brain.

Para mí es mucho mejor captar el universo como es en realidad que persistir en el engaño, por muy satisfactorio y reconfortante que sea. ¿Qué actitud es la que nos equipa mejor para sobrevivir a largo plazo? ¿Qué nos da una mayor influencia en nuestro futuro? Y si nuestra ingenua autoconfianza queda un poco socavada en el proceso, ¿es tan grande la pérdida, en realidad? ¿No hay motivo para darle la bienvenida como una experiencia que hace madurar e imprime carácter?