Carl Sagan Quotes

The development of science is basically a social phenomenon, dependent on hard work and mutual support of many scientists and on the societies in which they live.

The hardest problems of pure and applied science can only be solved by the open collaboration of the world-wide scientific community.

Science is a we, not an I. We are so used to star athletes, star entertainers, star politicians, but that is not science.

Today, the solitary inventor has been over-shadowed by groups of scientists.

In science, moreover, the work of the individual is so bound up with that of his scientific predecessors and contemporaries that it appears almost as an impersonal product of his generation.

I built on the efforts of a previous scientist, others will build on the work I'm doing and if I look at the whole scope from chemistry to biology to physics, it's just the list is too long to mention just one and it's not fair to the others.

Science is a field which grows continuously with ever expanding frontiers. Further, it is truly international in scope. Science is a collaborative effort. The combined results of several people working together is often much more effective than could be that of an individual scientist working alone.

More than any other product of human scientific culture scientific knowledge is the collective property of all mankind.

We were a very small circle of writers. Everybody brought to the table their own life experience.

As a scientist, you feel a sense of team spirit for your country but you also have a sense of team spirit for the international community.

The first thing to make clear is that scientists, freely making their own choice of problems and pursuing them in the light of their own personal judgment, are in fact co-operating as members of a closely knit organization.

If you go back to the 17th century, scientists generally weren't rewarded much at all for sharing discoveries, and as a result, they conducted a lot of their research very, very secretively indeed.

I am very grateful for the dedicated work and intellectual contributions of generations of talented postdocs, students and research assistants without whom none of the work from my laboratory would have been possible.

Further, science is a collaborative effort.

As scientists, we step on the shoulders of science, building on the work that has come before us - aiming to inspire a new generation of young scientists to continue once we are gone.

The day when the scientist, no matter how devoted, may make significant progress alone and without material help is past. This fact is most self-evident in our work.

I value unity because I believe we learn truth from each other in this process.

Science extends an invitation to all nations.

In science your competitors are your colleagues.

Secrecy in science does not work. Withholding information does more damage to us than to our competitors.

The sciences are of a sociable disposition, and flourish best in the neighborhood of each other;

Public sharing is an important part of science.

These guys from the past really motivate me, much respect to the guys before me and the ones after me.

I think the best SF writers are very aware of what we, in the scientific community, are doing, thinking, and discovering.

Research in the natural sciences operates in successive approximations. We are glad to be able to offer many good problems for research by generations to come.