263 quotes
A general problem with much of Western theology... is that the God portrayed is too small. It is a god of a tiny world and not a god of a galaxy, much less a universe.
The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God (2006)
A scientific colleague tells me about a recent trip to the New Guinea highlands where she visited a stone age culture hardly contacted by Western civilization. They were ignorant of wristwatches, soft drinks, and frozen food. But they knew about Apollo 11.
Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994)
The Hindu religion is the only one of the world’s great faiths dedicated to the idea that the cosmos itself undergoes an immense and indeed an infinite number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond […] to those of modern scientific cosmology.
Cosmos (1980)
The world is so exquisite, with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there's little good evidence. Far better, it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look Death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.
Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millenium (1997)
Carbonaceous meteorites that fall to the Earth... have several percent to as much as 10 percent of complex organic matter in them.
The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God (2006)
As a boy Kepler had been captured by a vision of cosmic splendour, a harmony of the worlds which he sought so tirelessly all his life.
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1990)
What an astonishing thing a book is.
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1990)
This vast number of worlds, the enormous scale of the universe... has not been taken into account, even superficially, in virtually no religion, and especially in no Western religions.
The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God (2006)
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. God must be even greater than we dreamed"?
Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994)
We—we Americans, we Russians—have spent 43 years and vast national treasure in making ourselves exquisitely vulnerable to instant annihilation. We have done it in the name of patriotism and “national security,” so no one is supposed to question it.
Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millenium (1997)
Look, all I'm asking is for you to just have the tiniest bit of vision. You know, to just sit back for one minute and look at the big picture...
Many religions lay out a set of precepts... and claim that these instructions were given by a god or gods.
The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God (2006)
Many but not all my cannabis trips have somewhere in them a symbolism significant to me which I won't attempt to describe here, a kind of mandala embossed on the high.
Essay as "Mr. X (1969)
Many scientists deeply involved in the exploration of the solar system (myself among them) were first turned in that direction by science fiction. And the fact that some of that science fiction was not of the highest quality is irrelevant. Ten-year-olds do not read the scientific literature.
Broca's Brain (1979)
I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But as much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking.
Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millenium (1997)
The most significant aspect of the DNA story is that the fundamental processes of life now seem fully understandable in terms of physics and chemistry. No life force, no spirit, no soul seems to be involved. Likewise in neurophysiology: Tentatively, the mind seems to be the expression of the hundred trillion neural connections in the brain, plus a few simple chemicals.
Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millenium (1997)
This planet is run by crazy people. Remember what they have to do to get where they are. Their perspective is so narrow, so...brief. A few years. In the best of them a few decades. They care only about the time they are in power.
Contact (1985)
We live in a complex age where many of the problems we face can, whatever their origins, only have solutions that involve a deep understanding of science and technology. Modern society desperately needs the finest minds available to devise solutions to these problems.
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1995)
We humans appear on the cosmic calendar so recently that our recorded history occupies only the last few seconds of the last minute of December 31st.
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1990)
This doesn't mean you can picture a billion or a quintillion objects in your head—nobody can. But, with exponential notation, we can think about and calculate with such numbers. Pretty good for self-taught beings who started out with no possessions and who could number their fellows on their fingers and toes.
Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millenium (1997)