Science is a way to not fool ourselves.
Carl SaganRead
We are the representatives of the cosmos; we are an example of what hydrogen atoms can do, given 15 billion years of cosmic evolution.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes humanity's connection to the universe and the remarkable journey of evolution.
Carl Sagan's quote highlights the idea that humans are a product of the universe's extensive history and evolution. It illustrates the incredible transformation of simple hydrogen atoms into complex beings through billions of years of cosmic processes, suggesting that we are not just inhabitants of the universe but also its representatives, embodying the potential of evolution and complexity that has unfolded over time.
Themes
UniverseEvolutionHumanityCosmicHydrogenAtoms
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of science and exploration.
More from Carl Sagan
All quotes βIn 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
The greatest error of a man is to think that he is weak by nature, evil by nature. Every man is divine and strong in his real nature. What are weak and evil are his habits, his desires and thoughts, but not himself.
Ramana MaharshiRead
A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society.
Thomas JeffersonRead
Empathy, he once had decided, must be limited to herbivores or anyhow omnivores who could depart from a meat diet. Because,ultimately, the empathic gift blurred the boundaries between hunter and victim, between the successful and the defeated.
Philip K. DickRead
This thing called nationalism is a treasure that a country uses to try to develop and a nationality uses to try to survive. China has lost this treasure.
Sun Yat-SenRead
Life is more important than architecture.
Oscar NiemeyerRead
I despair of the Republic! Such dreariness, such whining sallow women, such utter absence of the amenities, such crass food, crass manners, crass landscape!! What a horror it is for a whole nation to be developing without the sense of beauty, and eating bananas for breakfast.
Edith WhartonRead