#saga

The ancient Ionians were the first we know of to argue systematically that laws and forces of Nature, rather than gods, are responsible for the order and even the existence of the world. ↗

— Carl Sagan

#nature

They don’t teach kidnapping at Eton, dad ↗

— Gwenn Wright

#dysfunctional-relationship #peter-strauss #von-strassenberg-saga #vssaga #ya

The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard, who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by 'God,' one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying... it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity. ↗

— Carl Sagan

#god #physical-laws #science #spirtuality #science

My main reason for scepticism about the Huxley/Sagan theory is that the human brain is demonstrably eager to see faces in random patterns, as we know from scientific evidence, on top of the numerous legends about faces of Jesus, or the Virgin Mary, or Mother Teresa, being seen on slices of toast, or pizzas, or patches of damp on a wall. This eagerness is enhanced if the pattern departs from randomness in the specific direction of being symmetrical. ↗

— Richard Dawkins

#evidence #evolution #religion #science #sir-julian-huxley

Seances occur only in darkened rooms, where the ghostly visitors can be seen dimly at best. If we turn up the lights a little, so we have a chance to see what’s going on, the spirits vanish. They’re shy, we’re told, and some of us believe it. In twentieth-century parapsychology laboratories, there is the ‘observer effect’: those described as gifted psychics find that their powers diminish markedly whenever sceptics arrive, and disappear altogether in the presence of a conjuror as skilled as James Randi. What they need is darkness and gullibility. ↗

— Carl Sagan

#science

All inquiries carry with them some element of risk. ↗

— Carl Sagan

#inquiry #knowledge #science #science

The dangerous one was Ren. Innocent though the white tiger he appeared to be, he was a compelling predator. Utterly irresistible -- like a Venus flytrap. So alluring, so tempting, so deadly. Everything he did was seductive and possibly hazardous to my health. ↗

— Colleen Houck

#kelsey #ren #tiger-s-curse #tiger-saga #innocence

It was enough to drive me mad. I was no longer myself and yet I was so much more me than I had ever been before. ~Katherine Demure ↗

— Gwenn Wright

#gwenn-wright #historical-romance #katherine-demure #love #romance

I was a vampire, and she had the sweetest blood I’d smelled in eighty years. ↗

— Stephenie Meyer

#edward-cullen #edward-cullen-quote #midnight-sun #romance #twilight