A grey-clad monk, who is the spirit of the Middle Ages, is approached upon the matter, and begins to say, in the arid manner of the Schoolmen, “Let us first of all consider, my brethren, the value of Light. If Light be in itself good—”

At this point he is somewhat excusably knocked down. All the people make a rush for the lamp-post, the lamp-post is down in ten minutes, and they go about congratulating each other on their un-mediaeval practicality.

But as things go on they do not work out so easily. Some people have pulled the lamp-post down because they wanted the electric light; some because they wanted old iron; some because they wanted darkness, because their deeds were evil. Some thought it not enough of a lamp-post, some too much; some acted because they wanted to smash municipal machinery; some because they wanted to smash something. And there is war in the night, no man knowing whom he strikes.

So, gradually and inevitably, to-day, to-morrow, or the next day, there comes back the conviction that the monk was right after all, and that all depends on what is the philosophy of Light. Only what we might have discussed under the gas-lamp, we now must discuss in the dark.

“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another. Every one of us is a tiny part of the cosmos, born from stars, tracing our lineage back to the primordial soup and to the stars themselves. Every being on this planet is the result of an unbroken chain of successful reproductions reaching back billions of years, to when the first microbe divided in the primordial seas. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.”

Carl Sagan, Cosmos episode 2

Apologies if this is off-topic. I was under the impression that Schopenhauer said something like this but I am not able to find a quote similar to this on the Goodreads page for his quotes. It may be someone else and I may be misquoting it to some extent though. Any help would be appreciated...I have tried to phrase the essence of the quote as well as I can remember but I am not sure at all about the phrasing or overall context/source.