Quotes by Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence

Explore a curated collection of 58 quotes by Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence. Discover timeless wisdom, insightful thoughts, and memorable words that have inspired readers around the world. Browse through the gallery below and click on any quote to read more.

And despite the insignificance of the instant we have so far occupied in cosmic time, it is clear that what happens on a — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
It is interesting that it is not the getting of any sort of knowledge that God has forbidden, but, specifically, the kno — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
Our difficulties in understanding or effectuatingcommunication with other animals may arise from our reluctance to grasp — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
It is precisely our plasticity, our long childhood, that prevents a slavish adherence to genetically preprogrammed behav — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
Do dogs feel for humans something akin to religious ecstasy? What other strong or subtle emotions are felt by animals th — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
with rare exceptions (chiefly the social insects), mammals and birds are the only organisms to devote substantial attent — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
In addition, human beings have, in the most recent few tenths of a percent of our existence, invented not only extra-gen — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
The time scale for evolutionary or genetic change is very long. A characteristic period for the emergence of one advance — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
Evolution is adventitious and not foresighted. Only through the deaths of an immense number of slightly maladapted organ — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
a typical chromosomal DNA molecule in a human being is composed of about five billion pairs of nucleotides… But since th — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
Somewhere in the steaming jungles of the Carboniferous Period there emerged an organism that for the first time in the h — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
Lashley also reported no apparent change in the general behavior of a rat when significant fractions—say 10 percent—of i — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
Once intelligent beings achieve technology and the capacity for self-destruction of their species, the selective advanta — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
While ritual, emotion and reasoning are all significant aspects of human nature, the most nearly unique human characteri — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
The price we pay for the anticipation of our future is anxiety about it. — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
As a consequence of the enormous social and technological changes of the last few centuries, the world is not working we — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
Why are there no nonhuman primates with an existing complex gestural language? One possible answer, it seems to me, is t — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
I would expect a significant development and elaboration of language in only a few generations if all the chimps unable — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
Human spoken language seems to beadventitious. The exploitation of organ systems with other functions for communication — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
Perhaps the most striking aspect of this entire subject is that there are nonhuman primates so close to the edge of lang — Carl Sagan, Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence