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Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke Quotes

Film writer

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Famous Arthur C. Clarke Quotes

“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.”

IfsMenShouldHumansWellsMaySaidPlayFormWiseNeededActivityWasteHighestAnd LoveWasting TimeWise Man Once SaidBonusHuman ActivitySearch For TruthBeauty And Love
Author:Arthur C. Clarke
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“I have encountered a few "creationists" and because they were usually nice, intelligent people, I have been unable to decide whether they were really mad or only pretending to be mad. If I was a religious person, I would consider creationism nothing less than blasphemy. Do its adherents imagine that God is a cosmic hoaxer who has created the whole vast fossil record for the sole purpose of misleading humankind?”

PeopleIfsPersonsHas BeensWholePurposeReligionReligiousRecordsNiceImagineEvolutionIntelligentMadPretendingCosmicHumankindImagine ThatSoleFossilsMisleadBlasphemyCreationismReligious Person
Author:Arthur C. Clarke
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“One orbit, with a radius of 42,000 kilometers, has a period of exactly 24 hours. A body in such an orbit, if its plane coincided with that of the Earth's equator, would revolve with the Earth and would thus be stationary above the same spot on the planet. It would remain fixed in the sky of a whole hemisphere ... [to] provide coverage to half the globe, and for a world service three would be required, though more could be readily utilized. (1945) [Predidicting geosynchronous communication satellites]”

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Author:Arthur C. Clarke
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“Trying to predict the future is a discouraging and hazardous occupation. If by some miracle a prophet could describe the future exactly as it was going to take place, his predictions would sound so absurd that people everyone would laugh him to scorn. The only thing we can be sure of about the future is that it will be absolutely fantastic. So, if what I say now seems to you to be very reasonable, then I will have failed completely. Only if what I tell you appears absolutely unbelievable have we any chance of visualizing the future as it really will happen.”

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Author:Arthur C. Clarke
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“I suspect that religion is a necessary evil in the childhood of our particular species. And that's one of the interesting things about contact with other intelligences: we could see what role, if any, religion plays in their development. I think that religion may be some random by-product of mammalian reproduction. If that's true, would non-mammalian aliens have a religion?”

IfsThinkingMayPlayEvilInterestingRolesChildhoodParticularProductsDevelopmentSpeciesContactAliensSuspectsInteresting ThingsReproductionNecessary Evil
Author:Arthur C. Clarke
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“The choice, as Wells once said, is the Universe-or nothing. . . . The challenge of the great spaces between the worlds is a stupendous one; but if we fail to meet it, the story of our race will be drawing to its close. Humanity will have turned its back upon the still untrodden heights and will be descending again the long slope that stretches, across a thousand million years of time, down to the shores of the primeval sea.”

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Author:Arthur C. Clarke
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“Invade me now, my ruthless friend, And make me cower in the dark. Remind me that I'm all alone And draw upon my face your mark. How is it that you capture me, When all my thoughts deny your force? Is it the reptile in my brain That lets your terror run its course? Baseless Fear undoes us all Despite our quest for lofty goals. We would-be Galahads don't die, Fear just freezes all our souls. It keeps us mute when feeling love, Reminding us what we might lose. And if by chance we meet success, Fear tells us which safe route to choose.”

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Book:Rama Revealed
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“Even if we never reach the stars by our own efforts, in the millions of years that lie ahead it is almost certain that the stars will come to us. Isolationism is neither a practical policy on the national or cosmic scale. And when the first contact with the outer universe is made, one would like to think that Mankind played an active and not merely a passive role-that we were the discoverers, not the discovered.”

IfsThinkingYearsFirstsMadeLyingCertainUniverseStarsEffortRolesMillionsMankindPolicyWalkingMoonActiveScalesPracticalsContactCosmicPassiveStar GazingFirst ContactIsolationism
Author:Arthur C. Clarke
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