The suppression of ...

The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge, and there\'s no place for it in the endeavor of science. We do not know beforehand where fundamental insights will arise from about our mysterious and lovely solar system. The history of our study of our solar system shows us clearly that accepted and conventional ideas are often wrong, and that fundamental insights can arise from the most unexpected sources.
The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge, and there's no place for it in the endeavor of science. We do not know beforehand where fundamental insights will arise from about our mysterious and lovely solar system. The history of our study of our solar system shows us clearly that accepted and conventional ideas are often wrong, and that fundamental insights can arise from the most unexpected sources.
 Carl Sagan

Quotes from the same author

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.
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 Carl Sagan
For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.
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 Carl Sagan
If the constellations had been named in the twentieth century, I suppose we would see bicycles and refrigerators in the sky.
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 Carl Sagan
Probably a dozen times since their death I've heard my mother or father, in an ordinary conversational tone of voice, call my name. They had called my name often during my life with them ... It doesn't seem strange to me.
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 Carl Sagan
The method of science is tried and true. It is not perfect, it's just the best we have. And to abandon it, with its skeptical protocols, is the pathway to a dark age.
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 Carl Sagan