Carl Sagan quotes

They laughed at Einstein. They laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.

Carl Sagan

One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time.

Carl Sagan

It is of interest to note that while some dolphins are reported to have learned English, up to fifty words used in correct context, no human being has been reported to have learned dolphinese.

Carl Sagan

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.

Carl Sagan

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.

Carl Sagan

If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits.

Carl Sagan

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.

Carl Sagan

All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value.

Carl Sagan

A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism.

Carl Sagan

Understanding is a kind of ecstasy.

Carl Sagan

Discussing the possibilities of extraterrestrial life: I would love it even if they were short, sullen, grumpy and sexually obsessed. But there just isn't any good evidence.

Carl Sagan

The fact that someone says something, doesn't mean it's true. Doesn't mean they're lying, but it doesn't mean it's true.

Carl Sagan

Each of us is a tiny being, permitted to ride on the outermost skin of one of the smaller planets for a few dozen trips around the local star.

Carl Sagan

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

Science is not only compatible with spirituality. It is a profound source of spirituality.

Carl Sagan

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.

Carl Sagan

We are an intelligent species and the use of our intelligence quite properly gives us pleasure. In this respect the brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.

Carl Sagan