"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"
About this Quote
That framing matters because Druyan's whole intellectual brand sits at the crossroads of wonder and systems. As a science writer shaped by the space age (and as Carl Sagan's longtime collaborator), she understands that the most transcendent cultural moods often ride on top of state competition, budgets, and fear. "Real motivation" is pointed phrasing: it punctures the sentimental story of the sixties as self-generated idealism and reassigns causality to an external antagonist. The subtext isn't cynical so much as bracing: the era's breakthroughs in science, media, and public imagination were accelerated by a world structured around existential threat.
Her inclusion of the fifties tightens the argument. It refuses the neat decade-boxing that lets Americans treat the sixties as an isolated moral awakening, separate from the conformity before it. Druyan suggests continuity: the same tensions that produced suburban calm also fueled rocket science, propaganda, and the cultural appetite for cosmic perspective. Lucky, yes - but lucky the way someone is lucky to grow up during a storm that forces everyone to build faster, think bigger, and look up.
Quote Details
| Topic | War |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Druyan, Ann. (2026, January 17). 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. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/well-i-actually-grew-up-in-the-sixties-i-feel-36096/
Chicago Style
Druyan, Ann. "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." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/well-i-actually-grew-up-in-the-sixties-i-feel-36096/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"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." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/well-i-actually-grew-up-in-the-sixties-i-feel-36096/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.
