If they be inhabited, what a scope for misery and folly; if they be un-inhabited, what a waste of space.
Share this quote
Notes from Wikiquote
Attributed by John Burroughs on the first page of his 1920 book Accepting The Universe | Attributed by Carl Sagan at a November 20, 1972 symposium on "Life Beyond Earth and the Mind of Man", held at Boston University | cite book | cite web | Edited version of symposium, released by National Archives, under Google Video partnership.
Variants
A sad spectacle. If they be inhabited, what a scope for misery and folly. It they be not inhabited, what a waste of space.