What does the figure of Carl Sagan symbolize for you? For many it was the first approach to the amazing mysteries of science. This genius brought us closer to infinity with explanations of the cosmos that bordered on the poeticbut at the same time they invited skepticism and the endless search for knowledge.
Sagan made us experience our place in the universe in a unique way. And just like that, a December 20, 1996 left this planet.
Here are some of his best phrases, to never forget him:
1. We are the means for the cosmos to know itself.
2. Sometimes I believe that there is life on other planets, and sometimes I believe that there is not. In either case the conclusion is astonishing.
3. We are stardust thinking about the stars.
4. We live in a society deeply dependent on science and technology in which nobody knows anything about these issues. This is a sure formula for disaster.
5. Today more than ever, when so many and such complex problems assail the human species, the presence of individuals with a high IQ and a very wide field of interests is necessary.
6. The absence of proof is not proof of absence.
7. The study of the universe is a journey to self-discovery.
8. What an amazing thing a book is. A book is made of a tree. It is an object made up of flat and flexible parts (which we still call «leaves») printed with scribbles in dark pigments. But you take a look at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone who has even died thousands of years ago. Through time and millennia, the voice of the one who wrote it is speaking to us, clearly and silently, inside our heads, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of all mankind’s inventions, uniting people, citizens of distant times, who never met. The books break the chains of time and are proof that human beings can really do magic.
9. Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a deep source of spirituality.
10. Imagination will often take us to worlds that never were. But without her, we’re not going anywhere.
11. The brain is like a muscle. When in use, we feel very good. Understanding is joy.
12. The cosmos is all that is, all that was, and all that ever will be. Our slightest contemplations of the cosmos make us shudder: we feel how a kind of tingling fills our nerves, a mute voice, a slight sensation… as if from a distant memory or as if we were falling from a great height. We know that we are approaching the greatest of mysteries.
13. If someone disagrees with you, let them live. You won’t find anyone like it in a hundred billion galaxies.
14. Our allegiance must be to the species and the planet. Our obligation to survive is not only to ourselves but also to that vast, ancient cosmos from which we derive.
15. If we’re alone in the universe, it sure would be a terrible waste of space.
16. The universe was not tailored to the human being; it is not hostile either: it is indifferent.
17. We have done such a lousy job of managing our planet that we should be very careful before trying to manage others.
18. You can’t convince a believer of anything because their beliefs are not based on evidence, they are based on a rooted need to believe.
19. After all, when you’re in love, you want to tell everyone about it. For this reason, the idea that the scientific community does not speak to the public about science seems aberrational to me.
20. The first great virtue of humanity was doubt and the first great defect was faith.
21. Science isn’t perfect, it’s often misused, it’s just a tool, but it’s the best tool we have, it’s self-correcting, always evolving, and can be applied to anything. With this tool we conquer the impossible.
22. We have found out that we live on an insignificant planet, from a sad lost star, in a galaxy on the forgotten corner of a universe, in which there are many more galaxies than people.
23. More than a body of knowledge, science is a way of thinking.
24. In science it often happens that a scientist says: «That’s a good argument, I was wrong», that he changes his mind and from that moment the old position is not mentioned again. It really happens. Although not as often as it should, since scientists are human and change is sometimes painful, but it happens every day. I can’t remember the last time something like this happened in politics or religion.
25. Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be discovered.
26. The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in apple pies… they were all created inside stars that collided with each other.
27. In my opinion, it is much better to understand the universe as it is than to persist in deception, despite the fact that it is comfortable.
28. We are like butterflies that fly for a day thinking that they will fly forever.
29. An extraordinary claim requires extraordinary evidence.
30. We can judge progress by the courage of the questions and the depth of the answers; for the audacity to find the truth rather than rejoice in what makes us feel good.
31. I don’t want to believe, I want to know.
32. The beauty of life does not refer to the atoms that compose it, but to the way in which these atoms come together.
33. It is interesting to know that some dolphins have managed to learn English (up to 50 words used in the correct context), and yet no human being has managed to learn ‘dolphin’.
34. If something can be destroyed by the truth, it deserves to be destroyed.
35. Nature is always more subtle, more complex and more elegant than what we are capable of imagining.
36. Understanding is a form of ecstasy.
37. An organism that is at war against itself is doomed.
38. Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.
39. Personally, I would love that there was life after death, especially if it allowed me to continue learning about this world and others, if it gave me the opportunity to discover the course of history.
40. You are an interesting species. An interesting mix. You are capable of having the most beautiful dreams and the most horrible nightmares. You feel lost, isolated, alone, but you are not. You see, in all our searches, the only thing we have found is that it is the company of others that makes the emptiness bearable.
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