Carl Sagan

“Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”

“Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact.”

“We live in a society absolutely dependent on science and technology and yet have cleverly arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. That's a clear prescription for disaster.”

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

“The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true.”

“We're made of star-stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.”

“For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.”

“Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.”

“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.”

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

“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”

“The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.”