Science is a way to not fool ourselves.
Carl SaganRead
The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote criticizes cannabis prohibition and highlights its benefits for fostering peace and connection.
Carl Sagan's quote reflects on the injustices of cannabis being illegal, arguing that this prohibition prevents society from accessing a substance that can promote tranquility, understanding, and community. In a world perceived as increasingly chaotic and perilous, Sagan emphasizes the importance of such qualities as serenity and fellowship, suggesting that cannabis could play a role in enhancing these attributes in individuals and society as a whole.
Themes
CannabisProhibitionSerenityInsightFellowshipSociety
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech advocating for cannabis legalization during a public forum.
More from Carl Sagan
All quotes →In more than one respect, the exploring of the Solar System and homesteading other worlds constitutes the beginning, much more than the end, of history.
Carl SaganRead
How smart does a chimpanzee have to be before killing him constitutes murder?
Carl SaganRead
The hole in the ozone layer is a kind of skywriting. At first it seemed to spell out our continuing complacency before a witch's brew of deadly perils. But perhaps it really tells of a newfound talent to work together to protect the global environment.
Carl SaganRead
There is a reward structure in science that is very interesting: Our highest honors go to those who disprove the findings of the most revered among us. So Einstein is revered not just because he made so many fundamental contributions to science, but because he found an imperfection in the fundamental contribution of Isaac Newton.
Carl SaganRead
The simplest thought, like the concept of the number one, has an elaborate logical underpinning.
Carl SaganRead
Similar quotes
Whatever satisfies the soul is truth.
Walt WhitmanRead
You knew all along that your sanctioned world was only half the world, and you tried to suppress the other half the same way the priests and teachers do. You won't succeed. No one succeeds in this once he has begun to think.
Hermann HesseRead
Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting.
William ShakespeareRead
The gratification which affluence of wealth, extent of power, and eminence of reputation confer, must be always, by their own nature, confined to a very small number; and the life of the greater part of mankind must be lost in empty wishes and painful comparisons, were not the balm of philosophy shed upon us, and our discontent at the appearances of unequal distribution soothed and appeased.
Samuel JohnsonRead
If we take the poor away from the Gospel, we won't be able to understand the whole message of Jesus Christ.
Pope FrancisRead
By divine mandate the interpreter and guardian of the Scriptures, and the depository of Sacred Tradition living within her, the Church alone is the entrance to salvation: She alone, by herself, and under the protection and guidance of the Holy Spirit, is the source of truth.
Pope Pius XiiRead