“We live only a few conscious decades, and we fret ourselves enough for several lifetimes.”
Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) British American author and journalist
Source: Hitch-22: A Memoir
“The lifetime of a human being is measured by decades, the lifetime of the Sun is a hundred million times longer. Compared to a star, we are like mayflies, fleeting ephemeral creatures who live out their lives in the course of a single day.”
— Carl Sagan, book Cosmos
Source: Cosmos
Last update June 3, 2021. History
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "The lifetime of a human being is measured by decades, the lifetime of the Sun is a hundred million times longer. Compar…" by Carl Sagan?
Carl Sagan365
American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science ed… 1934–1996Related quotes
“For one who has not lived even a single lifetime, you are a wise man, Van Helsing.”
Garrett Fort (1900–1945) screenwriter
Dracula, to Van Helsing, who has discovered his secret
Dracula (1931)
Dan Simmons book The Rise of Endymion
Source: The Rise of Endymion (1997), Chapter 33 (p. 684)
“Our lifetime may be the last that will be lived out in a technological society.”
Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British science fiction writer, science writer, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host
Attributed to Clarke on the internet, this has also been attributed to Isaac Asimov in published works.
Disputed
“The mayfly lives only one day. And sometimes it rains.”
George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian
Books, Napalm and Silly Putty (2001)
“All day I've built
a lifetime and now
the sun sinks to
undo it.”
Anne Sexton (1928–1974) poet from the United States
Source: The Complete Poems
Angelus Silesius (1624–1677) German writer
As quoted in Messenger Of The Heart: The Book Of Angelus Silesius, With Observations by Frederick Franck (2005), p. 36
Ted Williams (1918–2002) American professional baseball player
My Turn at Bat : The Story of My Life (1970), p. 7
Variant: All I want out of life is that when I walk down the street folks will say, "There goes the greatest hitter that ever lived".