How's about your favourite Carl Sagan quote?

[DaveGarland]

I've just been watching some episodes of Carl Sagans Cosmos on YouTube and I have to say, the guys awesome. I like the boy Brian Cox but to be honest Carl is a class ahead, his views to me are quite inspiring. Do any of you have a favourite Carl quote?

For me “The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.” does it for me. All my life I've wondered at the night sky, I was born the year man landed on the moon, my dad used to sit me on his knee and point at the stars and tell me about them and when my sons were born I had stars named after them. My boys are only 5 and 6 years old and they can point out Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Orion and I like to think they will one day sit my grandchildren on their knees and talk about the stars to them. The idea that we are literally born from the stars is amazing to me, particularly as we still rely on a star to live.

Anyone else have a fav Carl Quote?

[Moonshane]

I’m struck by the irony that spaceflight - conceived in the cauldron of nationalist rivalries and hatreds - brings with it a stunning transnational vision. You spend even a little time contemplating the Earth from orbit and the most deeply ingrained nationalisms begin to erode. They seem the squabbles of mites on a plum.

— Carl Sagan (Pale Blue Dot)

[Treeden]

“The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. On this shore, we've learned most of what we know. Recently, we've waded a little way out, maybe ankle-deep, and the water seems inviting. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return, and we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.”

[foundaplanet]

"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".

Always found this one funny....

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

― Carl Sagan

[Starlight 1]

I have 2 books Cosmos & Comet, but for his Quotes where can one start.

[telesto]

"The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be"

[JamesF]

but for his Quotes where can one start.

Quite. There must be billions and billions.

James

[John]

It's probably the most commonly reference Sagan quote but the "Pale Blue Dot" piece seems pretty profound to me. You need to see the image with it really so here is a link:

http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/skyimage/pbdwords.jpg

[johnrt]

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

[MikeWilson]

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known" - Carl Sagan

[DaveGarland]

John, totally awesome!

[Dave Dubya]

"For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring."