Quotes from Carl Sagan

We are set irrevocably, I believe, on a path what will take us to the stars - unless in some monstrous capitulation to stupidity and greed, we destroy ourselves first.

Do you believe in UFOs?" I'm always struck by how the question is phrased, the suggestion that this is a matter of belief and not of evidence. I'm almost never asked, "How good is the evidence that UFOs are alien spaceships?" I

Thus, an inhibition center developed below what in humans is the temporal lobe, to turn off much of the functioning of the reptilian brain; and an activation center evolved in the pons to turn on the R-complex, but harmlessly, during sleep.

All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike—and yet it is the most precious thing we have. ALBERT EINSTEIN

I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time—when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing

Human beings have a demonstrated talent for self-deception when their emotions are stirred

the cost of education is trivial compared to the cost of ignorance

la certeza absoluta siempre se nos escapará.

Desde los inicios de la civilización, en las sociedades ha habido clases privilegiadas. Unos grupos oprimen a otros y procuran mantener estas jerarquías de poder. Los hijos de los privilegiados crecen confiando en que, sin ningún esfuerzo particular por su parte, mantendrán su posición privilegiada.

Cada vez que un estudio científico presenta algunos datos, va acompañado de un margen de error: un recordatorio discreto pero insistente de que ningún conocimiento es completo o perfecto.

All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike—and yet it is the most precious thing we have. ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879–1955)

In the fabric of space and in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written small, the artist's signature. Standing over humans, gods, and demons, subsuming Caretakers and Tunnel builders, there is an intelligence that antedates the Universe.

But our energies are directed far more toward war. Hypnotized by mutual mistrust, almost never concerned for the species or the planet, the nations prepare for death. And because what we are doing is so horrifying, we tend not to think of it much. But what we do not consider we are unlikely to put right. Every thinking person fears nuclear war, and every technological state plans for it. Everyone knows it is madness, and every nation has an excuse.

democracy can also be subverted more thoroughly through the products of science than any pre-industrial demagogue ever dreamed.

One consequence of this train of argument is that, even if civilizations commonly arise on planets throughout the Galaxy, few of them will be both long-lived and nontechnological. Since hazards from asteroids and comets must apply to inhabited planets all over the Galaxy, if there are such, intelligent beings everywhere will have to unify their home worlds politically, leave their planets, and move small nearby worlds around. Their eventual choice, as ours, is spaceflight or extinction.

Human spoken language seems to be adventitious. The exploitation of organ systems with other functions for communication in humans is also indicative of the comparatively recent evolution of our linguistic abilities.

Dicho de otro modo, cualquier predisposición a la creencia religiosa puede verse poderosamente influida por la cultura indígena, viva uno donde viva. Especialmente si los niños están expuestos desde muy pequeños a una serie concreta de doctrinas, música, arte y ritual, es algo tan natural para ellos como respirar, motivo por el cual las religiones hacen tantos esfuerzos para atraer a los más jóvenes.

Para pequenas criaturas como nós, a imensidão é suportável apenas através do amor.

We worry, and for good reason, about adults who still believe in Santa Clause.

There may be such intelligences and such starships, but pulsars are not their signature. Instead, they are the doleful reminders that nothing lasts forever; that stars also die.

Muchas religiones han intentado hacer grandes estatuas de sus dioses, con la idea, supongo, de hacernos sentir pequeños a nosotros. Pero, si ése era su objetivo, ya pueden quedarse con sus míseros íconos. Para sentirnos pequeños basta con que levantemos la mirada

Some portion of the decision-making that influences the future of our civilization is plainly in the hands of charlatans.

Todo lo que hemos visto forma parte de un universo inmenso, complicado y maravilloso.

Al parecer anhelamos un privilegio, merecido no por nuestros esfuerzos, sino por nacimiento, digamos que por el mero hecho de ser humanos y de haber nacido en la Tierra. Podríamos llamarla la noción antropocéntrica, <>. Está noción alcanza su culminación en la idea de que fuimos creados a imagen y semejanza de Dios: <> El filósofo griego del siglo VI a. J.C. Jenófanes comprendió la arrogancia de esta perspectiva: <