Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality (2014)
“The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding.”
—
Carl Sagan
,
book
Cosmos
Source: Cosmos (1980), p. 4
Context: The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding. Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home. In a cosmic perspective, most human concerns seem insignificant, even petty. And yet our species is young and curious and brave and shows much promise. In the last few millennia we have made the most astonishing and unexpected discoveries about the Cosmos and our place within it, explorations that are exhilarating to consider. They remind us that humans have evolved to wonder, that understanding is a joy, that knowledge is prerequisite to survival. I believe our future depends powerfully on how well we understand this Cosmos in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky.
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Carl Sagan 365
American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science ed… 1934–1996Related quotes
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“It is not size or age or childishness that separates children from adults. It is "responsibility."”
Jules Feiffer
(1929) American cartoonist, screenwriter and playwright
The Great Comic Book Heroes http://books.google.com/books?id=zxbuAAAAMAAJ&q=%22It+is+not+size+or+age+or+childishness+that+separates+children+from+adults+It+is+responsibility%22&pg=PA75#v=onepage (1965)
“Kinship among nations is not determined in such measurements as proximity of size and age.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
(1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)
http://books.google.com/books?id=Dp94AAAAMAAJ&q="Kinship+among+nations+is+not+determined+in+such+measurements+as+proximity+size+and+age"Speech at Guildhall, London (12 June 1945) <!-- accessdate = 2012-06-07 -->
1940s
Context: Kinship among nations is not determined in such measurements as proximity of size and age. Rather we should turn to those inner things — call them what you will — I mean those intangibles that are the real treasures free men possess. To preserve his freedom of worship, his equality before law, his liberty to speak and act as he sees fit, subject only to provisions that he trespass not upon similar rights of others — a Londoner will fight. So will a citizen of Abilene. When we consider these things, then the valley of the Thames draws closer to the farms of Kansas and the plains of Texas.