# Quote — Carl Sagan, Cosmos

> For a long time the human instinct to understand was thwarted by facile religious explanations.

- Author: [Carl Sagan](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan.md)
- Book: [Cosmos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos.md)
- Page: 173
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Cosmos_(1980)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos/for-a-long

## More from this book

> I have...a terrible need...shall I say the word?...of religion. Then I go out at night and paint the stars.

p. 217 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos/i-have-a-terrible.md)

> If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.

p. 218 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos/if-you-wish.md)

> If we long for our planet to be important, there is something we can do about it. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.

p. 193 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos/if-we-long.md)