Carl Sagan was an American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. He is best known for his work in planetary astronomy, cosmology, and popularizing science through writing and public speaking.
Sagan was born on November 9th in New York City to a Jewish family. His father was an engineer who worked on the Manhattan Project. When he was two years old, his father died of leukemia. He grew up in Brooklyn and then moved to Washington D.C., where he attended high school at George Washington High School, graduating in 1946 as class valedictorian.
In 1950 Sagan entered Harvard University with a scholarship from the University’s John Series Fund for Science Research on the condition that he would study physics but switched to astronomy at the urging of astronomer
Here are his most inspiring quotes about the cosmos, love, and earth that will describe his love and passion for science.
Top 27 Inspirational Carl Sagan Quotes
1. “Exploration is our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars.” ― Carl Sagan
2. “It pays to keep an open mind.” ― Carl Sagan
3. “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” – Carl Sagan
4. “But deep down, at the molecular heart of life, the trees and we are essentially identical.” ― Carl Sagan
5. “Are we willing to tolerate ignorance and complacency in matters that affect the entire human family?”― Carl Sagan
6. “We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.” ― Carl Sagan
7. “Intellectual capacity is no guarantee against being dead wrong.” ― Carl Sagan
8. “We are privileged to live in, and if we are lucky to influence, one of the most critical epochs in the history of the human species.” ― Carl Sagan
9. “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” – Carl Sagan
10. “Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking.” ― Carl Sagan
11. “It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out.” – Carl Sagan
12. “Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.” ― Carl Sagan
13. “For all our failings, despite our limitations and fallibilities, we humans are capable of greatness.” ― Carl Sagan
14. “The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.” ― Carl Sagan
15. “We are like butterflies that flutter for a day and think it is forever.” – Carl Sagan
16. “If we continue to accumulate only power and not wisdom, we will surely destroy ourselves.” ― Carl Sagan
17. “Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but without it we go nowhere.” – Carl Sagan
18. “Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.” ― Carl Sagan
19. “We must understand the Cosmos as it is and not confuse how it is with how we wish it to be.” ― Carl Sagan
20. “I think if we ever reach the point where we think we thoroughly understand who we are and where we came from, we will have failed.” ― Carl Sagan
21. “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” ― Carl Sagan
22. “For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.” ― Carl Sagan
23. “Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us.” ― Carl Sagan
24. “We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good.” – Carl Sagan
25. “The nature of life on Earth and the search for life elsewhere are two sides of the same question—the search for who we are.” ― Carl Sagan
26. “It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.” – Carl Sagan
27. “It pays to keep an open mind.” ― Carl Sagan
Want more great quotes? Check out below!
