A tiny white paper boat floats on dark blue rippling water.

Original artwork, not a still

Cosmos ‧ 1980

Carl Sagan

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Sagan argues that imagination can transport us to places that never truly existed. Yet he insists that without this leap, we remain stuck, unable to move forward at all. The line values imaginative thinking as essential fuel for progress, not mere escapism.

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