All of science to me, everything that we have learned, is important to the extent that it brings us to our senses.

Ten long trips around the sun since I last saw that smile, but only joy and thankfulness that on a tiny world in the vastness, for a couple of moments in the immensity of time, we were one.

A lot of people have this ego need that makes them want to believe that Earth is the center of the universe and humans are the most important species, the supreme expression of creation.

If you are searching for sacred knowledge and not just a palliative for your fears, then you will train yourself to be a good skeptic.

And what greater might do we possess as human beings than our capacity to question and to learn?

Carl did not want to believe. He wanted to know.

I guess I so desperately want to see us put this planet right. It's so horrifying to me that a fifth of us are starving every night, and that forty thousand children die every single day.

We smoked the way other American families would have wine with dinner. For us, it was our sacrament. It was something that made a great life sweeter in every possible way.

Interviewer: "Didn't [Sagan] want to believe?" Druyan: "He didn't want to believe. He wanted to know.

Science is nothing more than a neverending search for the truth.

Carl took on the military-industrial complex. He campaigned around the world for an end to the production of weapons of mass destruction. To him it was a perversion of science.

literature was the best plaything that had ever been invented to make fun of people.

After 9/11, whatever the evidence of intelligence failures, many people still saw that attack as almost unimaginable, so brutal and brazen an assault.

The only preventative measure one can take is to live irregularly.

Bin Laden’s death and the debate over torture.

I am telling you that the child will not out live the buildings. Do you understand that wheras women may touch the immortal by giving birth, men--great men-- must build monuments and seek fame?

If you really want to diminish a candidate, depict him as the foil of his handler. This is as old in American politics as politics itself.

The frustrating part of being tagged 'controversial' is people go looking for trouble where there isn't any to look for.

In a perfect world, I could be doing some bigger films and balance that with some independent films because they seem to be the most challenging and unique

We're so used to presenting ourselves and getting approval according to our achievements that it's difficult to be authentic and trust that we'll be accepted just as we are.

Tell the world you are a one-of-a-kind creation who came here to experience wonder and spread joy. Expect to be accommodated.