Authors — Quotes

Arthur C. Clarke Quotes: 18

Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
I'm sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It's just been too intelligent to come here.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry Into the Limits of the Possible
How inappropriate to call this planet "Earth,"when it is clearly "Ocean.
My favourite definition of an intellectual: 'Someone who has been educated beyond his/her intelligence.[Sources and Acknowledgements: Chapter 19]
3001: The Final Odyssey
Magic's just science that we don't understand yet.
I don’t believe in astrology; I’m a Sagittarius and we’re skeptical.
Before you become too entranced with gorgeous gadgets and mesmerizing video displays, let me remind you that information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, and wisdom is not foresight. Each grows out of the other, and we need them all.
One of the greatest tragedies in mankind's entire history may be that morality was hijacked by religion.
After their encounter on the approach to Jupiter, there would aways be a secret bond between them---not of love, but of tenderness, which is often more enduring.
2010: Odyssey Two
A faith that cannot survive collision with the truth is not worth many regrets.
The Exploration of Space
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.
Humor was the enemy of desire.
2010: Odyssey Two
1. 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.2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.
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.
It is a good principle in science not to believe any 'fact'---however well attested---until it fits into some accepted frame of reference. Occasionally, of course, an observation can shatter the frame and force the construction of a new one, but that is extremely rare. Galileos and Einsteins seldom appear more than once per century, which is just as well for the equanimity of mankind.
2061: Odyssey Three
He did not know that the Old One was his father, for such a relationship was utterly beyond his understanding, but as he looked at the emaciated body he felt a dim disquiet that was the ancestor of sadness.
2001: A Space Odyssey