A Couple of Anniversaries

First, a few of my favorites.

"For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring."

"I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true."

"We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology"

"We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it's forever"

"The method of science is tried and true.  It's not perfect, it's just the best we have.  And to abandon it with its skeptical protocols is the pathway to a dark age."

Now a few from the Cosmos series.

"In many cultures it is customary to answer that God created the universe out of nothing. But this is mere temporizing. If we wish courageously to pursue the question, we must, of course ask next where God comes from? And if we decide this to be unanswerable, why not save a step and conclude that the universe has always existed?"

"There are many hypotheses in science which are wrong. That's perfectly all right; they're the aperture to finding out what's right. Science is a self-correcting process. To be accepted, new ideas must survive the most rigorous standards of evidence and scrutiny."

And a few from my favorite book of his, "The Demon-Haunted World:  Science as a Candle in the Dark"

"If you want to save your child from polio, you can pray or you can inoculate....Try science."

"the expose' of fraud and error in science is made almost exclusively by science. But the exposure of fraud and error in faith-healing is almost never done by other faith-healers."

"Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works."

And a few from "Contact"

"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe."

"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."

And finally, a quote from Ann Druyan on Carl Sagan's death.

"Contrary to the fantasies of the fundamentalists, there was no deathbed conversion, no last minute refuge taken in a comforting vision of a heaven or an afterlife.  For Carl, what mattered most was what was true, not merely what would make us feel better.  Even at this moment when anyone would be forgiven for turning away from the reality of our situation, Carl was unflinching.  As we looked deeply into each other's eyes, it was with a shared conviction that our wondrous life together was ending forever."