Carl Sagan

[Darwinian]

You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep-seated need to believe.

[StewartP]

The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent. - Carl Sagan

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But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown. - Carl Sagan

[solidsquid]

The fact that so little of the findings of modern science is prefigured in Scripture to my mind casts further doubt on its divine inspiration - Carl Sagan, Demon Haunted World, pp. 35

It is a characteristic conceit of our species to put a human face on random cosmic violence - pp. 45

[StewartP]

It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

[Edwardo Piet]

It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

Thats definitely my favourite Carl Sagan quote... it's awesome. So obvious yet it doesn't occur to so many people; or they simply don't care.

I've edited this post because I've found another Carl Sagan quote that I find atleast as inspiring after all: "Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature. " - Carl Sagan.

[Darwinian]

"For we are the local embodiment of a cosmos grown to self-awareness; grouped assemblages of 10,000,000,000,000 atoms contemplating the atom, starstuff pondering the stars, tracing that long path by which here at least, matter grew to consciousness. Our obligation to survive is owed not just to the species, not just to the planet, but to that Cosmos, ancient and vast, from which we spring."

...not only does that quote still literally make me tear up every time I read it, but it also gives me chills the way no made-up religious text ever could. All of Cosmos was a work of scientific/secular humanist art...but...the last moments of the 13th episode, Who Speaks For Earth?, are in my opinion, arguably, some of the MOST powerful words EVER spoken on television.

[leo-rcc]

The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.

[Watson]

Can this topic also be used for quotes [b]about[b/b] Carl Sagan, even if they are our own? Because I myself had a conversation with a friend of mine, and mentioned that "the whole of Carl Sagan's work can be summed up in the phrase 'close, but no cigars.' "