I believe our future depends powerfully on how well we understand this cosmos in which we float, like a mote of dust in the morning sky.
Carl SaganOur posturings, our imagined self-importance , the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe are challenged by this point of pale light.
Carl SaganI 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 SaganWe are, in a way, temporary ambulatory repositories for our nucleic acids. This does not deny our humanity; it does not prevent us from pursuing the good, the true and the beautiful. But it would be a great mistake to ignore where we have come from in our attempt to determine where we are going.
Carl SaganThe total number of stars in the Universe is larger than all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the planet Earth.
Carl SaganWe've begun at last to wonder about our origins, star stuff contemplating the stars, organized collections of ten billion billion billion atoms contemplating the evolution of matter, tracing that long path by which it arrived at consciousness here on the planet Earth and perhaps throughout the cosmos. Our obligation to survive and flourish is owed not just to ourselves but also to that cosmos, ancient and vast, from which we spring.
Carl Sagan