Carl Sagan

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.

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

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?

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

Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.

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.

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.

For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.

A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism.

The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.

I am often amazed at how much more capability and enthusiasm for science there is among elementary school youngsters than among college students.

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.