Quotes from book
Contact

Contact

Carl Sagan

Contact is a 1985 science fiction novel by American scientist Carl Sagan. It deals with the theme of contact between humanity and a more technologically advanced, extraterrestrial life form. It ranked No. 7 on the 1985 U.S. bestseller list. The novel originated as a screenplay by Sagan and Ann Druyan in 1979; when development of the film stalled, Sagan decided to convert the stalled film into a novel. The film concept was subsequently revived and eventually released in 1997 as the film Contact starring Jodie Foster.

“If we are alone in the Universe, it sure seems like an awful waste of space.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

This is a paraphrase of Sagan quoting Thomas Carlyle: "A sad spectacle. If they be inhabited, what a scope for misery and folly. If they be not inhabited, what a waste of space."
Sagan delivered this quote during the symposium on "Life Beyond Earth and the Mind of Man", held at Boston University (20 November 1972), published in Life Beyond Earth and the Mind of Man (1973) edited by Richard Berendzen; Life Beyond Earth and the Mind of Man (1975) National Archives video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQeOp7a8QMI
Misattributed
Source: Contact

“In the fabric of space and in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written small, the artist’s signature.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact (1985), Chapter 24 (p. 431)
Context: The universe was made on purpose, the circle said. In whatever galaxy you happen to find yourself, you take the circumference of a circle, divide it by its diameter, measure closely enough, and uncover a miracle — another circle, drawn kilometers downstream of the decimal point. There would be richer messages farther in. It doesn't matter what you look like, or what you're made of, or where you come from. As long as you live in this universe, and have a modest talent for mathematics, sooner or later you'll find it. It's already here. It's inside everything. You don't have to leave your planet to find it. In the fabric of space and in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written small, the artist’s signature. Standing over humans, gods, and demons, subsuming Caretakers and Tunnel builders, there is an intelligence that antedates the universe.

“She had studied the universe all her life, but had overlooked its clearest message: For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact

“Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is shameful to surrender it too soon or to the first comer; there is nobility in preserving it coolly and proudly through long youth, until at last, in the ripeness of instinct and discretion, it can be safely exchanged for fidelity and happiness.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact (1985), Chapter 14 (p. 231, quoting George Santayana)

“Any faith that admires truth, that strives to know God, must be brave enough to accommodate the universe.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact

“A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact (1985), Chapter 14 (p. 244)

“Anything you don’t understand, Mr. Rankin, you attribute to God. God for you is where you sweep away all the mysteries of the world, all the challenges to our intelligence. You simply turn your mind off and say God did it.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact (1985), Chapter 10 (p. 166)

“Perhaps the depth of love can be calibrated by the number of different selves that are actively involved in a given relationship.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact

“It’s hard to kill a creature once it lets you see its consciousness.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact (1985), Chapter 9 (p. 147)

“You mustn't think of the Universe as a wilderness. It hasn't been that for billions of years," he said. "Think of it more as….. cultivated.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact

“For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact (1985), Chapter 24 (p. 430)

“I've always thought an agnostic is an atheist without the courage of his convictions.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact

“Their position seems to be that their God is so great he doesn't even have to exist.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact

“What I’m saying is, if God wanted to send us a message, and ancient writings were the only way he could think of doing it, he could have done a better job.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact (1985), Chapter 10 (p. 164)

“This planet is run by crazy people. Remember what they have to do to get where they are. Their perspective is so narrow, so…brief. A few years. In the best of them a few decades. They care only about the time they are in power.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact (1985), Chapter 23 (p. 403)

“Do we, holding that the gods exist,
deceive ourselves with insubstantial dreams
and lies, while random careless chance and
change alone control the world?”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact (1985), Chapter 10 (p. 157, quoting Euripides)

“Humans are very good at dreaming, although you’d never know it from your television.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact (1985), Chapter 20 (p. 359)

“Jingoistic rhetoric and puerile self-congratulatory nationalism.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact (1985), Chapter 11 (p. 181)

“You see, the religious people — most of them — really think this planet is an experiment. That’s what their beliefs come down to. Some god or other is always fixing and poking, messing around with tradesmen’s wives, giving tablets on mountains, commanding you to mutilate your children, telling people what words they can say and what words they can’t say, making people feel guilty about enjoying themselves, and like that. Why can’t the gods leave well enough alone? All this intervention speaks of incompetence. If God didn’t want Lot’s wife to look back, why didn’t he make her obedient, so she’d do what her husband told her? Or if he hadn’t made Lot such a shithead, maybe she would’ve listened to him more. If God is omnipotent and omniscient, why didn’t he start the universe out in the first place so it would come out the way he wants? Why’s he constantly repairing and complaining? No, there’s one thing the Bible makes clear: The biblical God is a sloppy manufacturer. He’s not good at design, he’s not good at execution. He’d be out of business if there was any competition.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact (1985), Chapter 16 (p. 285)

“I wish to propose a doctrine which may, I fear, appear wildly paradoxical and subversive. The doctrine in question is this: that it is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true. I must, of course, admit that if such an opinion became common it would completely transform our social life and our political system; since both are at present faultless, this must weigh against it.”

Carl Sagan book Contact

Source: Contact (1985), Chapter 2 (p. 15, quoting Bertrand Russell)

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