30 Carl Sagan Quotes On Earth, Science, & The Cosmos

Carl Sagan was an American astronomer and science communicator. An influential figure in the United States known for his research on the idea of life beyond Earth. Here are the best Carl Sagan quotes about life, love, science, space, the earth, the universe, and more.

Carl Sagan was a renowned scientist who played an important role in NASA’s Voyager missions. These missions explored the outer planets and gave an incredible new perspective on our place in the cosmos, which Sagan described as the “Pale Blue Dot.”

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Whether you’re a space enthusiast or simply curious about the cosmos, Sagan’s words provide an engaging gateway to the wonders of the universe.

His words continue to inspire new generations of scientists, astronomers, and space enthusiasts. These Carl Sagan quotes from the visionary scientists will help you understand the universe in a better way.

Top 10 Carl Sagan

1. “Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.” — Carl Sagan                                       

   
2. “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” — Carl Sagan
3. “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” — Carl Sagan                 

   

4. “It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out.” — Carl Sagan                    

   

5. “Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.” — Carl Sagan
6. “For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.” — Carl Sagan           

   

7. “Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.” — Carl Sagan
8. “The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.” — Carl Sagan
9. “Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.” — Carl Sagan
10. “For all our failings, despite our limitations and fallibilities, we humans are capable of greatness.” — Carl Sagan

Famous Quotes By Carl Sagan

1. “I don’t want to believe. I want to know.” — Carl Sagan
2. “You have to know the past to understand the present.” ― Carl Sagan
3. “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” — Carl Sagan
4. “Intellectual capacity is no guarantee against being dead wrong.” — Carl Sagan
5. “We are like butterflies that flutter for a day and think it is forever.” — Carl Sagan
6. “The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.” — Carl Sagan
7. “The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five.” — Carl Sagan
8. “Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.” — Carl Sagan
9. “I can find in my undergraduate classes, bright students who do not know that the stars rise and set at night, or even that the Sun is a star.” — Carl Sagan
10. “We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.” — Carl Sagan
11. “We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good.” — Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan Quotes On Universe And Cosmos

1. “The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.” — Carl Sagan
2. “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” — Carl Sagan
3. “The universe is a pretty big place. If it’s just us, seems like an awful waste of space.” — Carl Sagan
4. “We must understand the Cosmos as it is and not confuse how it is with how we wish it to be.” — Carl Sagan
5. “The origin and evolution of life are connected in the most intimate way with the origin and evolution of stars.” — Carl Sagan
6. “For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.” — Carl Sagan
7. “We are the representatives of the cosmos; we are an example of what hydrogen atoms can do, given 15 billion years of cosmic evolution.” — Carl Sagan
8. “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
9. “Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.” — Carl Sagan
10. “Avoidable human misery is more often caused not so much by stupidity as by ignorance, particularly our ignorance about ourselves.” ― Carl Sagan
11. “There is a wide, yawning black infinity. In every direction, the extension is endless; the sensation of depth is overwhelming. And the darkness is immortal. Where light exists, it is pure, blazing, fierce; but light exists almost nowhere, and the blackness itself is also pure and blazing and fierce.” — Carl Sagan

More About Carl Sagan’s Life

Through his TV series, “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage,” Sagan truly connected with people explaining to them the complicated ideas about space in a simple way and igniting a curiosity about the universe in countless minds.

His contributions to science are remarkable. From creating messages sent to space, like the Pioneer plaque and Voyager Golden Record to suggesting that the heat on Venus is because of a greenhouse effect, his ideas on science and technology are widely accepted to date.

Apart from being a renowned scientist, Sagan was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who was also famous for his books including Pale Blue Dot, The Dragons of Eden, and Contact. His books not only won awards but expanded his influence beyond the scientific community.

Due to complications from the rare bone marrow disease myelodysplasia, he contracted pneumonia, which led to his death at age 62, on Dec. 20, 1996.

Conclusion

What are your favorite Carl Sagan quotes and sayings listed above? If there is a quote that we’ve missed then let us know in the comments section what your thoughts are.

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