"In exchange for freedom of inquiry, scientists are obliged to explain their work."
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Quote collection
Carl Sagan quotes (page 30 of 30)
592 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Societies will, of course, wish to exercise prudence in deciding which technologies that is, which applications of science are to be pursued and which not. But without funding basic research, without supporting the acquisition of knowledge for its own sake, our options become dangerously limited."
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"[S]cience has itself become a kind of religion."
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"If there is life, then I believe we should do nothing to disturb that life. Mars then, belongs to the Martians, even if they are microbes."
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"Philosophers and scientists confidently offer up traits said to be uniquely human, and the monkeys and apes casually knock them down -- toppling the pretension that humans constitute some sort of biological aristocracy among the beings on Earth."
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"Clutching our crystals and religiously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in steep decline, unable to distinguish between what's true and what feels good, we slide, almost without noticing, into superstition and darkness."
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"The desire to be connected with the cosmos reflects a profound reality, but we are connected; not in the trivial ways that astrology promises, but in the deepest ways."
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"I don't know the answer. Maybe no one knows. Maybe when you grow up, you'll be the first to find out."
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"If the press descended, the science would surely suffer."
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"Probably a dozen times since their death I've heard my mother or father, in an ordinary conversational tone of voice, call my name. They had called my name often during my life with them ... It doesn't seem strange to me."
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"Books are key to understanding the world and participating in a democratic society."
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"In a lot of scientists, the ratio of wonder to skepticism declines in time. That may be connected with the fact that in some fields-mathematics, physics, some others-the great discoveries are almost entirely made by youngsters."
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