Sometimes it's not about the literal text, but the meaningnis accurate. In this case, Sagan did say 'billions' a lot. And he also tried to emphasize the scale

Sometimes it's not about the literal text, but the meaningnis accurate. In this case, Sagan did say 'billions' a lot. And he also tried to emphasize the scale of the universe (something the general public has difficulty grasping). It might be a misquote in the literal sense, but the meaning is actually quite accurate, and I don't think Sagan should be upset. 'Billions and billions' is a good shorthand for that. Sometimes you have to modify a quote a bit to give it context. Just saying 'Im your father' is a bit too generic. But 'Luke, I am your father' lets the listener know we are talking about Star Wars. Same with the 'Beam me up, Scotty'. I have no idea if this applies to Mr Graham, but just needed to put my useless opinion out.