Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
Carl SaganBetter by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable. If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal.
Carl SaganOn the day that we do discover that we are not alone, our society may begin to evolve and transform in some incredible and wondrous new ways.
Carl SaganHow is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, โThis is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?โ Instead they say, โNo, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.โ A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.
Carl Sagan