Ann Druyan Quotes

In the 1970s, I think that there was probably a higher degree of respect for science, of hope about the future, and the future-oriented vision. ~ Ann Druyan

The way he treated me & the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other & our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. ~ Ann Druyan

If you are searching for sacred knowledge and not just a palliative for your fears, then you will train yourself to be a good skeptic. ~ Ann Druyan

Well, I actually grew up in the sixties. I feel very lucky, actually, that that was my slice of time that I was dealt. Let's remember that the real motivation in the sixties, and even in the fifties, was the Cold War. ~ Ann Druyan

By disobeying god, we escape from his totalitarian prison where you cannot ask any questions, where you must never question authority. We become our human selves, ~ Ann Druyan

As I looked out at the glittering waters of the Pacific I was seeing for Carl. He knew that it's not for any one generation to see the completed picture. That's the point. The picture is never completed. There is always so much more that remains to be discovered. ~ Ann Druyan

Ten long trips around the sun since I last saw that smile, but only joy and thankfulness that on a tiny world in the vastness, for a couple of moments in the immensity of time, we were one. ~ Ann Druyan

We are living in a society that is totally dependent on science and high technology, and yet most of us are effectively alienated and excluded from its workings, from the values of science, the methods of science, and the language of science. A good place to start would be for as many of us as possible to begin to understand the decision-making and the basis for those decisions, and to act independently and not be manipulated into thinking one thing or another, but to learn how to think. That's what science does. ~ Ann Druyan

Science has carried us to the gateway to the universe. And yet our conception of our surroundings remains the disproportionate view of the still-small child. We are spiritually and culturally paralyzed, unable to face the vastness, to embrace our lack of centrality and find our actual place in the fabric of nature. We batter this planet as if we had someplace else to go. That we even do science is a hopeful glimmer of mental health. However, it's not enough merely to accept these insights intellectually while we cling to a spiritual ideology that is not only rootless in nature but also, in many ways, contemptuous of what is natural. ~ Ann Druyan

I've been thinking about the distorted view of science that prevails in our culture. I've been wondering about this, because our civilization is completely dependent on science and high technology, yet most of us are alienated from science. ~ Ann Druyan

Our stars are not where we last admired them. Our homes crumble and we don't know which place to long for. ~ Ann Druyan

Knowing a deep thing well, which is what science asks of its practitioners, is an empowerment that is very profound. It's a liberation. ~ Ann Druyan

Even if it's very late at night. Someone's always awake in the world. But of all those things you could think up for people to be doing, I think going hungry would have to be your safest bet. Going hungry, pushing each other around, leaving bombs, breaking promises, leaving nothing. It happens far away all the time. But sometimes near. We're almost two kinds of people. Some of us see it on the evening news or read about it in the morning paper. And some of us get hurt. But, you know we all get hurt. Because even if you live in a very nice house like I do, sooner or later the lies and the fires have got to burn you. ~ Ann Druyan

I don't have any faith, but I have a lot of hope, and I have a lot of dreams of what we could do with our intelligence if we had the will and the leadership and the understanding of how we could take all of our intelligence and our resources and create a world for our kids that is hopeful. ~ Ann Druyan

All of science to me, everything that we have learned, is important to the extent that it brings us to our senses. ~ Ann Druyan

We smoked the way other American families would have wine with dinner. For us, it was our sacrament. It was something that made a great life sweeter in every possible way, ~ Ann Druyan

In the vastness of space and the immensity of time, it is my joy to share a planet and an epoch with Annie.
[Dedication to Sagan's wife, Ann Druyan, in Cosmos] ~ Carl Sagan

We batter this planet as if we had someplace else to go. ~ Ann Druyan

I believe that we are a story-driven species and that we understand how things are put together, in the context of narrative. It's a shame that science hasn't been taught that way, in a long time. It's usually the fact completely devoid of any human experience or any idea of how the scientist came to that conclusion. ~ Ann Druyan

When my husband died, because he was so famous and known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me-it still sometimes happens-and ask me if Carl changed at the end and converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage and never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don't ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief and precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting. Every single moment that we were alive and we were together was miraculous-not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance. . . . That pure chance could be so generous and so kind. . . . That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space and the immensity of time. . . . That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me and it's much more meaningful. . . . The way he treated me and the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other and our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. I don't think I'll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other ~ Ann Druyan

For most of the history of our species we were helpless to understand how nature works. We took every storm, drought, illness and comet personally. We created myths and spirits in an attempt to explain the patterns of nature. ~ Ann Druyan

People think that if you are a scientist you have to give up that joy of discovery, that passion, that sense of the great romance of life. I say that's completely opposite of the truth. ~ Ann Druyan

Science has the cold facts, but lacks religion's social organization and ability to inspire that moves people to act. ~ Ann Druyan

I guess I so desperately want to see us put this planet right. It's so horrifying to me that a fifth of us are starving every night, and that forty thousand children die every single day. ~ Ann Druyan

If you have a beating heart, that's good enough. ~ Ann Druyan

As a species, we tend to lie quite a bit - to ourselves and to each other. It's a primate thing. So, a reason to go into a career in science and technology, or to learn more about these subjects, is to become a more powerful person. ~ Ann Druyan

Ramona wasn't at home anywhere. She felt like a spy in life and the ending of every great book and each orgasm, and the sight of every homeless shopping bag lady infected her with a titanic yearning for the world to make an unscheduled stop. ~ Ann Druyan

And what greater might do we possess as human beings than our capacity to question and to learn? ~ Ann Druyan

Carl did not want to believe. He wanted to know. ~ Ann Druyan

The only gratification that science denies to us is deception. ~ Ann Druyan

A lot of people have this ego need that makes them want to believe that Earth is the center of the universe and humans are the most important species, the supreme expression of creation. ~ Ann Druyan

The aspirations of democracy are based on the notion of an informed citizenry, capable of making wise decisions. The choices we are asked to make become increasingly complex. They require the longer-term thinking and greater tolerance for ambiguity that science fosters. The new economy is predicated on a continuous pipeline of scientific and technological innovation. It can not exist without workers and consumers who are mathematically and scientifically literate. ~ Ann Druyan

Science is nothing more than a neverending search for the truth. ~ Ann Druyan

Carl Sagan always used to say that when he was trying to explain something to someone, he would go back to that time when he didn't understand it, and then he would retrace his thought steps so that he could make it absolutely clear, and that's one of the infinite number of things I learned from him. ~ Ann Druyan

Interviewer: Didn't Sagan want to believe?
Druyan: he didn't want to believe. he wanted to know. ~ Ann Druyan

That's when I realize - he's afraid of me every bit as much as he is of Vel. We're like the wicked witch and her demon familiar or something. ~ Ann Aguirre

God with us." When our sins made it impossible for us to come to him, God took the outrageous step of coming to us, of making himself susceptible to sorrow, familiar with temptation, and vulnerable to sin's disruptive power, in order to cancel its claim. In Jesus we see how extreme God's love is. ~ Ann Spangler

Just because things hadn't gone the way I had planned didn't necessarily mean they had gone wrong. ~ Ann Patchett

No matter how interminable something feels, there is always, always an ending. Sometimes that's good, and sometimes it's bad; sometimes it's a matter of indifference, and sometimes it's heartbreaking, and your life is never the same thereafter. ~ Ann Aguirre

She was addicted to pain as if it'd become her new brand of heroin. ~ Lora Ann

Satan's sin becomes the first sin of all humanity: the sin of ingratitude. ~ Ann Voskamp

The bed we loved in was a spinning world
of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas
where we would dive for pearls. My lover's words
were shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses
on these lips; my body now a softer rhyme
to his, now echo, assonance; his touch
a verb dancing in the centre of a noun.
Some nights, I dreamed he'd written me, the bed
a page beneath his writer's hands. Romance
and drama played by touch, by scent, by taste.
In the other bed, the best, our guests dozed on,
dribbling their prose. My living laughing love -
I hold him in the casket of my widow's head
as he held me upon that next best bed.

- Anne Hathaway ~ Carol Ann Duffy

This is not a love story. It is my life, and as such, there is love, loss, war, death, and sacrifice. It's about things that needed to be done and choices made. I regret nothing. ~ Ann Aguirre

He was a very small man, both in stature and girth, who had been chosen as a running mate as much for his size as for his political beliefs. The pervasive thinking in government was that a taller vice president would make the President appear weak, replaceable. ~ Ann Patchett

Melissa officinalis ~ Ann Bellows

The only part of a man more sensitive than the aforementioned testicles was the male ego - like a Georgia peach. ~ Jewel E. Ann

He's just watching out for you, Desiree.' Dee patted Mace's arm. 'Bless his heart.'
Mace growled. 'I know that's not a compliment, Dee-Ann. ~ Shelly Laurenston

The tricky thing about being a writer, or about being any kind of artist, is that in addition to making art you also have to make a living. ~ Ann Patchett

What you have to remember about your mother is that she didn't have her own character. She turned into whoever she was sitting next to. When ~ Ann Patchett

Because no matter how much we think otherwise, there are those ugly things that hold the greatest potential for beauty. ~ Jo Ann Fore

I must recall the precise feelings that have nurtured the present circumstances, when nothing at all from outside interfered, not even thoughts of time past, present, or time future, when doubts of my own reality have dwindled away. Isn't there a moment caught between two moods, that space within, separated from life, as well as death, when the sun is faced without blinking, when eternity lies here inside; no division whatsoever, simply a series of circular motivations. But these hands with their veins from a leaf, there is no separation, only a distasteful similarity. Why though search for proof? Surely I'm not philosopher to analyse the value of reality as opposed to idea, and what is gained by delving into such linguistic labyrinths? Definitely the supreme action is to dispose of the mind, bring reality into something vital, felt seen, even smelt. ~ Ann Quin

It was a strange thing about college. You felt like you were supposed to be finding your life there. Each person you saw, you thought, Will you mean something to me? Will we figure into each other's lives? ~ Ann Brashares

I shall never love any as I love thee, Moonbrow!" she cried.
He nuzzled her, very gently. "Nor I you, Ryhenna," he said. "Tek is my mate. I love her. You are my shoulder-friend, and I love you. I love you both, but differently. And when in a year or two years' time, you dance court within this glade, it will be with one whom you love in a way entirely other than the way that you love me. I am your companion, your friend, Ryhenna, just as you are always and ever mine. Stand fast with me," he said, "and no foe shall ever part us. ~ Meredith Ann Pierce

You are always someones favorite unfolding story ~ Ann Patchett

I'll take it. I'll take his words like a daring covenant, not knowing yet what's to come: there is no growth without change, no change without surrender, no surrender without wound - no abundance without breaking. Wounds are what break open the soul to plant the seeds of a deeper growth. ~ Ann Voskamp

My record of opposition to illegal immigration is unquestioned. ~ Ann Wagner

Blessed are they who hold lively conversations with the helplessly mute, for they shall be called dentists. ~ Ann Landers

I sort of feel sorry for gays being the last ones at the sexual revolution window. We've had liberalizing rules on divorce. We've had the sexual revolution. We've had, you know, the pill, and burning bras and rampant premarital sex and polymorphous perversity. ~ Ann Coulter

We could sit here all night talking about cancer. I'm just telling you it's unsettling. There are thousands of ways your body can go off the rails for no reason whatsoever and chances are you won't know about any of it until it's too late. ~ Ann Patchett

If I had to offer up a one sentence definition of addiction, I'd call it a form of mourning for the irrecoverable glories of the first time ... addiction can show us what is deeply suspect about nostalgia. That drive to return to the past isn't an innocent one. It's about stopping your passage to the future, it's a symptom of fear of death, and the love of predictable experience.
And the love of predictable experience, not the drug itself, is the major damage done to users. ~ Ann Marlowe

When I go looking for glimpses of Him, when I seek to fill the empty places with more of Him who is beauty, my equilibrium recalibrates to find its center in the Judge who became grace to bestow grace and I can rightly read the scale, feel it inside, and know it's true: If you can really see - the weight of Glory always tips the scales for joy. ~ Ann Voskamp

His pale eyes blazed with the power of what he felt for me. The reflected heat warmed me where I hadn't even known I was cold. Then his golden, spiky lashes swept down, veiling his thoughts. ~ Ann Aguirre

I don't have the life of a famous person. But I do feel like I've been able to connect with a lot of people. ~ Ann Brashares

You underestimated me again. We'll have to work on that. ~ Julie Ann Walker

This profusion of questions, exclamations, and tales is the new version of the Society. Its members are spread all over the world, but they are joined by their love of books, of talking about books, and of their fellow readers. We are transformed each time we pass a book along, each time we ask a question about it. ~ Mary Ann Shaffer

When I was planning LearnVest, everyone told me I had to talk to Ann Kaplan, one of the first female partners at Goldman Sachs. Within five minutes of our meeting, she totally got the idea - and by the time I left, she was a seed investor. ~ Alexa Von Tobel

After 9/11, new security measures not only added longer lines and earlier check-ins, but took away our privilege of carrying knitting needles or our favorite moisturizer on board with us. Although we want to be safe when we fly, in some ways it all just adds to the misery of our experience. ~ Ann Hood

It's a really bad idea to be in a band and get involved with each other. ~ Ann Wilson

Dad,
Please accept this money to fix the broken window. I'm sure it's already fixed, considering Lydia's house pride and her phobia about unconditioned air, but

Dear Al,
I can't begin to explain my actions at Lydia's – I mean yours and Lydia's house. When I get to Charleston, I never imagined that you would have

Dear Dad and Lydia,
I apologize to both of you for my irrational behavior. I know it's all my fault, but if you would have listened to ONE THING I had to say, I might not have

Dear Dad's new family,
I hope you'll all be very happy being blond together. May people speak only in inside voices for the rest of your lives.
P.S. Lydia, you wedding dress makes your arms look fat. ~ Ann Brashares

One of my current pet theories is that the winter is a kind of evangelist, more subtle than Billy Graham, of course, but of the same stuff. ~ Shirley Ann Grau

But courage wasn't an absence of fear; it was fighting despite the knot in your stomach. ~ Ann Aguirre

It does not take the striking pose of a high-fashion model or the strict stance of someone in uniform to earn respect and admiration. ~ Cindy Ann Peterson

Fall for someone you know will leave you,
sooner rather than later. ~ Ann Aguirre

he struck her as beautiful in the way warriors were beautiful. ~ Julie Ann Walker

The fact is, I love to feed other people. I love their pleasure, their comfort, their delight in being cared for. Cooking gives me the means to make other people feel better, which in a very simple equation makes me feel better. I believe that food can be a profound means of communication, allowing me to express myself in a way that seems much deeper and more sincere than words. My Gruyere cheese puffs straight from the oven say 'I'm glad you're here. Sit down, relax. I'll look after everything.'
- Ann Patchett, Dinner For One, Please, James ~ Jenni Ferrari-Adler

Sometimes you couldn't face the sadness of being forgotten until you felt the comfort of being remembered again. ~ Ann Brashares

When you record, you live with what you recorded for many many years, but when you play it's just an hour and a half and then once it's over it's over. ~ Keren Ann

Posture and Social Status...
During the 18th century in European and American society, aspects including station in life, status and dress could easily identify those of financial means. In fact, the garments of this era would hold the wearer in a position that would support and require proper posture. Women, and sometimes men, wore stays in order to shape the torso. Among the more privileged, even children wore stays since people believed these improved their posture and enhanced straight spinal growth. Certain movements were constrained by the cut and design of many garments, including details of the sleeve and back that would hold the person in proper posture. ~ Cindy Ann Peterson

I learnt a long time back to accept whatever comes my way. Best savor the good and bear up under the bad. There ain't no changin' none of it. ~ Ann H. Gabhart