Quotes from Carl Sagan

The secrets of evolution are death and time-the deaths of enormous numbers of lifeforms that were imperfectly adapted to the environment; and time for a long succession of small mutations.

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.

There are no forbidden questions in science, no matters too sensitive or delicate to be probed, no sacred truths.

We are star stuff harvesting sunlight.

I consider it an extremely dangerous doctrine, because the more likely we are to assume that the solution comes from the outside, the less likely we are to solve our problems ourselves.

Science is not perfect. It's often misused; it's only a tool, but it's the best tool we have. Self-correcting , ever changing, applicable to everything: with this tool, we vanquish the impossible.

Our passion for learning ... is our tool for survival.

The method of science is tried and true. It is not perfect, it's just the best we have. And to abandon it, with its skeptical protocols, is the pathway to a dark age.

It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science.

How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, "This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?

The method of science, as stodgy and grumpy as it may seem, is far more important than the findings of science.

The way to find out about our place in the universe is by examining the universe and by examining ourselves - without preconceptions, with as unbiased a mind as we can muster.

We can't help it. Life looks for life.

I hold that popularization of science is successful if, at first, it does no more than spark the sense of wonder.

Science cuts two ways, of course; its products can be used for both good and evil. But there's no turning back from science. The early warnings about technological dangers also come from science.

We are made of starstuff.

Science is merely an extremely powerful method of winnowing what's true from what feels good.

Science is a collaborative enterprise, spanning the generations. When it permits us to see the far side of some new horizon, we remember those who prepared the way - seeing for them also.

We are all star stuff.

We are a way for the cosmos to know itself

Birds know, better than humans, not to spoil the nest.

One of the greatest gifts adults can give - to their offspring and to their society - is to read to children.

Be grateful everyday for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.

We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.