Cosmos

by Carl Sagan

Science is generated by and devoted to free inquiry: the idea that any hypothesis, no matter how strange, deserves to be considered on its merits. The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion and politics, but it is not the path to knowledge; it has no place in the endeavor of science. We do not know in advance who will discover fundamental new insights.

I am a collection of water, calcium and organic molecules called Carl Sagan. You are a collection of almost identical molecules with a different collective label. But is that all? Is there nothing in here but molecules? Some people find this idea somehow demeaning to human dignity. For myself, I find it elevating that our universe permits the evolution of molecular machines as intricate and subtle as we.

if we do not destroy ourselves, I believe that we will one day venture to the stars.

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

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.

Knowing a great deal is not the same as being smart; intelligence is not information alone but also judgment, the manner in which information is co-ordinated and used.

Every thinking person fears nuclear war, and every technological state plans for it. Everyone knows it is madness, and every nation has an excuse.

Meanwhile, we can each make a personal and noncontroversial contribution to the future of the world by hugging our infants tenderly.