Carl Sagan
Celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism.
All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value.
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.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.
I am often amazed at how much more capability and enthusiasm for science there is among elementary school youngsters than among college students.
I can find in my undergraduate classes, bright students who do not know that the stars rise and set at night, or even that the Sun is a star.
If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits?
Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.
In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.
It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works.
Personally, I would be delighted if there were a life after death, especially if it permitted me to continue to learn about this world and others, if it gave me a chance to discover how history turns out.
Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.
Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.
The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.
The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent.
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.
