Arthur C. Clarke Quotes - Page 3

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• A wise man once said that all human activity is a form of play. And the highest form of play is the search for Truth, Beauty and Love. What more is needed? Should there be a ‘meaning’ as well, that will be a bonus? If we waste time looking for life’s meaning, we may have no time to live — or to play.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Wise, Men, Beauty And Love

  44 Copy quote

• When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. Perhaps the adjective 'elderly' requires definition. In physics, mathematics, and astronautics it means over thirty; in the other disciplines, senile decay is sometimes postponed to the forties. There are, of course, glorious exceptions; but as every researcher just out of college knows, scientists of over fifty are good for nothing but board meetings, and should at all costs be kept out of the laboratory!

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Mean, College, Elderly

  Profiles of the Future ch. 2 (1962).

  19 Copy quote

• I have never grown up, but I will never stop growing.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Growing

  6 Copy quote

• The one fact about the future of which we can be certain is that it will be utterly fantastic.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Facts, Fantastic, Certain

  "Profiles Of The Future". Book by Arthur C. Clarke, 1962.

  10 Copy quote

• A faith that cannot survive collision with the truth is not worth many regrets.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Faith, Truth, Regret

  "The Exploration of Space". Book by Arthur Clark, 1951.

  23 Copy quote

• But please remember: this is only a work of fiction. The truth, as always, will be far stranger.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Fiction, Remember, Stranger

  Arthur C. Clarke (2000). “2001: A Space Odyssey”, p.16, Penguin

  27 Copy quote

• I sometimes think that the universe is a machine designed for the perpetual astonishment of astronomers.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Thinking, Machines, Astonishment

  "Mysterious World (Strange Skies)". TV Series, November 18, 1980.

  6 Copy quote

• I would defend the liberty of consenting adult creationists to practice whatever intellectual perversions they like in the privacy of their own homes; but it is also necessary to protect the young and innocent.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Death, Home, Practice

  "1984: Spring". Book by Arthur C. Clarke, 1984.

  48 Copy quote

• The person one loves never really exists, but is a projection focused through the lens of the mind onto whatever screen it fits with least distortion.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Mind, Lenses, Fit

  7 Copy quote

• We over estimate technology in the short term and under estimate technology in the long term.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Technology, Long, Term

  12 Copy quote

• Never attribute to malevolence what is merely due to incompetence

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Incompetence, Attributes, Malevolence

  Arthur C. Clarke (2012). “3001: The Final Odyssey”, p.155, RosettaBooks

  10 Copy quote

• If children have interests, then education happens.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Children, Interest, Happens

  "The child-driven education". Sugata Mitra at TEDGlobal Talk, www.ted.com. July 2010.

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• I believe any malevolent supercivilisation would have rapidly self-destructed as we may be in the process of doing ourselves. If we do have contact, physical contact with aliens, I think it will be benign.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Believe, Thinking, Self

  9 Copy quote

• The best proof of intelligent life in space is that it hasn't come here.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Intelligent, Space, Proof

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• Judge me by my deeds, though they are few, rather than my words, though they are many.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Judging, Deeds, Judge Me

  Arthur C. Clarke (2012). “The City and the Stars”, p.50, RosettaBooks

  8 Copy quote

• The moon is the first milestone on the road to the stars.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Stars, Moon, Space

  77 Copy quote

• I have great faith in optimism as a guiding principle, if only because it offers us the opportunity of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Opportunity, Guiding Principles, Self

  "Sir Arthur C. Clarke: 90th Birthday Reflections". Arthur C. Clarke's message delivered on his 90th birthday, www.youtube.com. 2007.

  11 Copy quote

• We cannot predict the new forces, powers, and discoveries that will be disclosed to us when we reach the other planets and set up new laboratories in space. They are as much beyond our vision today as fire or electricity would be beyond the imagination of a fish.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Fire, Discovery, Space

  "Space and the Spirit of Man". Book by Arthur C. Clarke, 1965.

  13 Copy quote

• In all the universe there is nothing more precious than mind.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Mind, Universe

  8 Copy quote

• Science fiction seldom attempts to predict the future. More often than not, it tries to prevent the future.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Trying, Fiction, Science Fiction

  7 Copy quote

• No utopia can ever give satisfaction to everyone, all the time. As their material conditions improve, men raise their sights and become discontented with power and possessions that once would have seemed beyond their wildest dreams. And even when the external world has granted all it can, there still remain the searchings of the mind and the longings of the heart.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Dream, Heart, Men

  Arthur C. Clarke (2012). “Childhood’s End”, p.99, RosettaBooks

  10 Copy quote

• Science fiction does not attempt to predict. It extrapolates. It just says, "What if?" not what will be? Because you can never predict what will happen, particularly in politics and economics. You can to some extent predict in the technological sphere - flying, space travel, but even there we missed badly on some things, like computers. No one imagined the incredible impact of computers, even though robot brains of various kinds but the idea that one day every house would have a computer in every room and that one day we'd have computers built into our clothing, nobody ever thought of that.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  House, Flying, What If

  Source: www.salon.com

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• The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Atheist, Religion, Tragedy

  "Credo". Essay by Arthur C. Clarke (1991), later published in Arthur C. Clarke "Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!: Collected Essays, 1934-1998" (p. 360), 1999.

  90 Copy quote

• There is no reason to assume that the universe has the slightest interest in intelligence—or even in life. Both may be random accidental by-products of its operations like the beautiful patterns on a butterfly's wings. The insect would fly just as well without them.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Beautiful, Butterfly, Wings

  13 Copy quote

• Sometimes when I'm in a bookstore or library, I am overwhelmed by all the things that I do not know. Then I am seized by a powerful desire to read all the books, one by one.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Powerful, Book, Desire

  Arthur C. Clarke, Gentry Lee (2012). “Rama II”, p.412, RosettaBooks

  8 Copy quote

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