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Carl Sagan

Astronomer, Cosmologist, Astrophysicist, Astrobiologist

Science is far from a perfect instrument of knowledge. It's just the best we have.

Perfection - Science

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Aristotle

Philosopher

Philosophy is the science which considers truth.

Accounting - Philosophy - Science - Truth

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Bertrand Russell

Philosopher, Writer, Activist

The significance of a fact is relative to [the general body of scientific] knowledge. To say that a fact is significant in science, is to say that it helps to establish or refute some general law; for science, though it starts from observation of the particular, is not concerned essentially with the particular, but with the general. A fact, in science, is not a mere fact, but an instance. In this the scientist differs from the artist, who, if he deigns to notice facts at all, is likely to notice them in all their particularity.

Art - Help - Relatives - Science - Significance

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John Steinbeck

Writer, War Correspondent

It is not enough to say that we cannot know or judge because all the information is not in. The process of gathering knowledge does not lead to knowing. A child's world spreads only a little beyond his understanding while that of a great scientist thrusts outward immeasurably. An answer is invariably the parent of a great family of new questions. So we draw worlds and fit them like tracings against the world about us, and crumple them when we find they do not fit and draw new ones.

Knowledge - Parents - Science

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John Dewey

Philosopher, Psychologist, Educational Reformer

We sometimes talk as if "original research" were a peculiar prerogative of scientists or at least of advanced students. But all thinking is research, and all research is native, original, with him who carries it on, even if everybody else in the world already is sure of what he is still looking for.

Original - Science - Student

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Albert Einstein

Theoretical Physicist

I know very well that many scientists consider dowsing as they do astrology, as a type of ancient superstition. According to my conviction this is, unjustified. The dowsing rod is a simple instrument which shows the uncanny reaction of the human nervous system to certain factors which are unknown to us at this time.

Certainty - Human - Nervousness - Reaction - Science - Show - Wellness

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Carl Sagan

Astronomer, Cosmologist, Astrophysicist, Astrobiologist

The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding. Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home.

Age - Eternity - Home - Human - Loss - Ordinary - Science

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Carl Sagan

Astronomer, Cosmologist, Astrophysicist, Astrobiologist

But I try not to think with my gut. If I'm serious about understanding the world, thinking with anything besides my brain, as tempting as that might be, is likely to get me into trouble.

Brain - Science - Serious - Temptation - Thinking - Trial - Trouble - World

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Carl Sagan

Astronomer, Cosmologist, Astrophysicist, Astrobiologist

Widespread intellectual and moral docility may be convenient for leaders in the short term, but it is suicidal for nations in the long term. One of the criteria for national leadership should therefore be a talent for understanding, encouraging, and making constructive use of vigorous criticism.

Convenience - Leadership - Morals - Nations - Science - Suicide - Talent - Vigor

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Baruch Spinoza

Philosopher

Measure, time and number are nothing but modes of thought or rather of imagination.

Imagination - Science

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Carl Sagan

Astronomer, Cosmologist, Astrophysicist, Astrobiologist

[N]o scientist likes to be criticized. ... But you don't reply to critics: "Wait a minute, wait a minute; this is a really good idea. I'm very fond of it. It's done you no harm. Please don't attack it." That's not the way it goes. The hard but just rule is that if the ideas don't work, you must throw them away. Don't waste any neurons on what doesn't work. Devote those neurons to new ideas that better explain the data. Valid criticism is doing you a favor.

Favor - Harm - Pleasure - Science - Waiting - Waste

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Gary Larson

Cartoonist

The daily calendar seemed, to me, like a kind of cartoon black hole, and you didn't have to be a rocket scientist to know that that couldn't be sustained indefinitely. That's why I pulled the plug on that one after the '02 edition. Kind of a preemptive strike.

Day - Kindness - Knowledge - Science - Sustainable

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Enrico Fermi

Physicist

One might be led to question whether the scientists acted wisely in presenting the statesmen of the world with this appalling problem. Actually there was no choice. Once basic knowledge is acquired, any attempt at preventing its fruition would be as futile as hoping to stop the earth from revolving around the sun.

Choice - Earth - Present - Prevent - Problem - Science - World

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Aristotle

Philosopher

A line is not made up of points. ... In the same way, time is not made up parts considered as indivisible 'nows.' Part of Aristotle's reply to Zeno's paradox concerning continuity.

Making - Paradox - Science

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Louis Pasteur

Biologist, Microbiologist, Chemist

There are two men in each one of us: the scientist, he who starts with a clear field and desires to rise to the knowledge of Nature through observations, experimentation and reasoning, and the man of sentiment, the man of belief, the man who mourns his dead children, and who cannot, alas, prove that he will see them again, but who believes that he will, and lives in the hope – the man who will not die like a vibrio, but who feels that the force that is within him cannot die.

Belief - Death - Feelings - Man - Mourning - Proof - Reason - Science

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Carl Sagan

Astronomer, Cosmologist, Astrophysicist, Astrobiologist

How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, “This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?” Instead they say, “No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.” A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.

Ability - God - Modern - Prophecy - Religion - Science - Stress - Universe - Wants

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Steve Jobs

Business Magnate, Investor

Ultimately, it comes down to taste. It comes down to trying to expose yourself to the best things that humans have done and then try to bring those things into what you're doing. Picasso had a saying: good artists copy, great artists steal. And we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas, and I think part of what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians and poets and artists and zoologists and historians who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world.

Art - Human - Inspiration - Making - Music - Poetry - Science - Trial

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William Golding

Novelist, Playwright, Poet

I am optimistic when I consider the spiritual dimension which the scientist's discipline forces him to ignore.

Force - Ignoring - Optimism - Science

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Albert Einstein

Theoretical Physicist

If I would be a young man again and had to decide how to make my living, I would not try to become a scientist or scholar or teacher. I would rather choose to be a plumber or a peddler in hope to find that modest degree of independence still available under present circumstances.

Availability - Man - Science - Teaching - Trial

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Carl Sagan

Astronomer, Cosmologist, Astrophysicist, Astrobiologist

You can get into a habit of thought in which you enjoy making fun of all those other people who don't see things as clearly as you do. We have to guard carefully against it.

Enjoying - Fun - Habit - People - Science - Skepticism

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Tina Fey

Actress, Comedian, Writer, Producer, Playwright

Now every girl is expected to have: Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama, and doll tits. The person closest to actually achieving this look is Kim Kardashian, who, as we know, was made by Russian scientists to sabotage our athletes.

Achievement - Athletics - Boy - Expectation - Making - Ownership - Sarcasm - Science

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Ralph Waldo Emerson

Essayist, Lecturer, Philosopher, Poet

What terrible questions we are learning to ask! The former men believed in magic, by which temples, cities, and men were swallowed up, and all trace of them gone. We are coming on the secret of a magic which sweeps out of men's minds all vestige of theism and beliefs which they and their fathers held and were framed upon.

Man - Mindset - Science - Secrets

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Kurt Vonnegut

Writer

During the Vietnam War, Abbie Hoffman announced that the new high was banana peels taken rectally. So then FBI scientists stuffed banana peels up their asses to find out if this was true or not.

Science - Taking

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Aristotle

Philosopher

But nature flies from the infinite; for the infinite is imperfect, and nature always seeks an end.

End - Imperfection - Nature - Science

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Marcus Tullius Cicero

Statesman, Orator, Lawyer, Philosopher

A mind without instruction can no more bear fruit than can a field, however fertile, without cultivation.

Cultivation - Education - Fertility - Mindset - Science

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Carl Sagan

Astronomer, Cosmologist, Astrophysicist, Astrobiologist

We are an intelligent species and the use of our intelligence quite properly gives us pleasure. In this respect the brain is like a muscle. When we think well, we feel good. Understanding is a kind of ecstasy.

Brain - Ecstasy - Feelings - Giving - Intelligence - Kindness - Muscular - Pleasure - Respect - Science - Thinking - Wellness

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Linus Pauling

Chemist, Biochemist, Peace Activist, Author

There is no area of the world that should not be investigated by scientists. There will always remain some questions that have not been answered. In general, these are the questions that have not yet been posed.

Science

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Augustine of Hippo

Theologian, Philosopher

The good Christian should beware the mathematician and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of hell.

Danger - Devil - Education - Emptiness - Inspiration - Life - Making - Man - Mathematics - Prophecy - Science - Spirits - World

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Isaac Asimov

Writer, Professor

When, however, the lay public rallies round an idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly scientists and supports that idea with great fervor and emotion - the distinguished but elderly scientists are then, after all, probably right.

Distinction - Emotions - Science

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Carl Sagan

Astronomer, Cosmologist, Astrophysicist, Astrobiologist

We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good.

Answers - Atheism - Embrace - Feelings - Inspiration - Judging - Motivation - Progression - Science - Willing

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Aristotle

Philosopher

The physician heals, Nature makes well.

Healing - Nature - Physician - Science - Wellness

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Carl Sagan

Astronomer, Cosmologist, Astrophysicist, Astrobiologist

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.

Children - Enthusiasm - Libertarian - Science - Wonder

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