Famed astronomer Carl Sagan frequently reminded people the universe, in spite of humankind’s propensity to believe that everything revolves in some way around the unfolding dramas of the day, isn’t really about them. The world itself is a small blip of life in an otherwise vast expanse of space and matter that holds more mysteries to man than likely are ever to be understood totally. For all humans know, they’re not even the only living beings in that universe, he noted.

Sagan died 20 years ago this Tuesday after a whirlwind of a career in which he made a name for himself as someone who could explain the magnificence of space in a way no one else could. While his enthusiasm for the subject made him a celebrity of sorts, Sagan pursued a career with multiple facets: He worked on NASA robotics missions, he edited the science journal “Icarus,” he was an astronomy professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and he hosted the TV show “Cosmos” on PBS.

Sagan left behind more than a few memorable sayings: