Quotes from Carl Sagan

We are the only species on the planet, so far as we know, to have invented a communal memory stored neither in our genes nor in our brains. The warehouse of this memory is called the library

Some racists still reject the plain testimony written in the DNA that all the races are not only human but nearly indistinguishable. . . .

There is a wide, yawning black infinity. In every direction, the extension is endless; the sensation of depth is overwhelming. And the darkness is immortal. Where light exists, it is pure, blazing, fierce; but light exists almost nowhere, and the blackness itself is also pure and blazing and fierce.

For years I've been stressing with regard to UFOs that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

In our obscurity - in all this vastness - there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us.

We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.

Some 5 billion years from now, there will be a last perfect day on Earth... then the sun will begin to die, life will be extinguished, the oceans will boil and evaporate away.

We are the custodians of life's meaning.

We go about our daily lives understanding almost nothing of the world.

I would be very ashamed of my civilization if we did not try to find out if there is life in outer space.

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.

We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology and yet have cleverly arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology.

We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology.

Not all bits have equal value.

I set before you two ways: You can use your technology to destroy yourselves or to carry you to the planets and the stars. It's up to you.

My wonder button is being pushed all the time.

Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic.

In the vastness of space and the immensity of time, it is my joy to share a planet and an epoch with Annie.

We on Earth have just awakened to the great oceans of space and time from which we have emerged.

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.

It is all a matter of time scale. An event that would be unthinkable in a hundred years may be inevitable in a hundred million.

To read is to voyage through time.

Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors.

What began in deadly competition has helped us to see that global cooperation is the essential precondition for our survival. Travel is broadening. It's time to hit the road again.