Carl Sagan Quotes

Of course not. After all, I may be wrong.

It's not like I have all the answers.

Better to trust the man who is frequently in error than the one who is never in doubt.

H. L. Mencken told me once that he answered all his mail, pleasant and unpleasant, with just one line, 'You may be right.' That's the way I feel now. It is in the realm of possibility, just barely, that I could be the one who's wrong.

I have no talent for certainty.

Try to keep your mind open to possibilities and your mouth closed on matters that you don't know about. Limit your 'always' and your 'nevers.'

I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.

I don't necessarily agree with everything I say.

When we are not sure, we are alive.

It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.

I missed a lot of decisions. At the time of making such a decision, there was no doubt in my mind as to its correctness. However, a second or two later I felt that I erred and wished I could change my original ruling.

So basically, I don't know what I'm talking about. But maybe I do.

If you're not riddled with doubt, you've probably done something wrong.

I don't know whether I like it, but it is what I meant.

I know that I don’t know.

I don't feel I'm better than any man out there or that I have anything to teach, and the more I learn about myself, the less comfortable I feel saying anything at all.

We need to remember we're always a lot more wrong than we think.

One of my bywords is that nobody knows anything, including me.

I think it's very important to keep in the back of your mind: 'What if I'm wrong?'

Do not feel certain of anything.

Wow. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong.

I don't think I'm in any position to give anybody advice about anything.

Only the fools are certain and assured.

The fact is: I no longer believe in my own infallibility. That is why I am lost.

A man who has humility will have acquired in the last reaches of his beliefs the saving doubt of his own certainty.