35 Carl Sagan Quotes That Will Restore Your Wonder

The right quote can shift a perspective, spark curiosity, or steady you in moments of doubt. Carl Sagan's words bridge science and poetry, reminding us of our smallness and our magnificence. Use these quotes when you need courage to question, a nudge to explore, or a moment of awe to brighten your day.

Motivational quotes

• "Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
• "Science is more than a body of knowledge; it's a way of thinking."
• "Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but without it we go nowhere."
• "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."
• "Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool."
• "There are naive questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions... But every question is a cry to understand the world."

Inspirational quotes

• "The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be."
• "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
• "The Universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space."
• "We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers."
• "Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
• "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe."

Life wisdom quotes

• "For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love."
• "The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it, but the way those atoms are put together."
• "It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion."
• "The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence."
• "Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious."
• "Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic."

Curiosity & science quotes

• "We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology."
• "Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works."
• "If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, first you must create the universe."
• "We are made of star-stuff."
• "The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars."
• "It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out."

Wonder & awe quotes

• "We are star-stuff contemplating the stars."
• "Not only are we in the universe, the universe is in us."
• "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know... lived out their lives."
• "Our loyalties are to the species and to the planet."
• "For me, it is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion."
• "The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself."

Daily inspiration quotes

• "We are a way for the universe to know itself."
• "Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
• "The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it, but the way those atoms are put together."
• "We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers."
• "Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake."

Quotes can be a spark—brief and bright—or a door to deeper thought. Carl Sagan's lines encourage curiosity, humility, and wonder; keep a few of these close to reset your perspective, fuel your work, or simply remind you how extraordinary the ordinary can be.