This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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Are you looking for Cosmos quotes by Carl Sagan? How can these quotes help you better understand the book?
Carl Sagan is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and perhaps the greatest astronomer of our age. In this book, he provides a comprehensive description of the science, philosophy, and history of astronomical discovery, from ancient Ionia to the time of the book’s publication in 1980.
Below, we’ll take a look at some Cosmos quotes with explanations.
Quotes From Cosmos
Cosmos is astronomer Carl Sagan’s exploration of the universe. He discusses some of the obstacles posed by religious belief and institutions to scientific inquiry throughout history, and he celebrates the victories of the scientific endeavor.
Here are some Carl Sagan quotes from Cosmos to get you thinking:
“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.”
Could life have evolved similarly on other planets? Sagan says it’s certainly possible. The gasses from which the first living molecules formed exist everywhere in the universe. However, for 3 billion years, life on Earth never evolved past blue-green algae, so Sagan points out that evolving large complex life forms is much harder than the origin of life itself. Therefore, he says that if there is life on other planets, it’s more likely to be simple organisms, because the time required to evolve complex intelligent life means that, statistically, the majority of life in the universe would be in some stage of evolution preceding the complex life form stage.
“The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.”
Sagan points out that it was actually quite rational to believe that the Earth is flat and that the sun revolves around us, because from our perspectives that’s exactly how it appears. The idea that the Earth is round, rotating, and orbiting the sun is contrary to what our sense perceptions tell us. So, even setting religious beliefs aside, it’s natural that humans strongly resisted these ideas for a long time, especially in the absence of the kind of technology we have now—for example, satellite photos.
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Like what you just read? Read the rest of the world's best book summary and analysis of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" at Shortform .
Here's what you'll find in our full Cosmos summary :
- Carl Sagan's insights into some of the universe's biggest questions
- The history of astronomical discovery, from ancient Ionia to 1980
- Why humans will need “multigenerational” spacecrafts to explore space
