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"When a distinguished but elderly scientist says that something is
possible, he is almost certainly right. When he says it is
impossible, he is very probably wrong."
Clarke's First Law, from "Profiles of the Future" (1962)
"The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going
beyond them into the impossible."
Clarke's Second Law, from "Profiles of the Future" (1962)
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Clarkes Third Law, from "Profiles of the Future" (1962)
"As three laws were good enough for Newton, I have modestly decided to stop there."
"Profiles of the Future" (1962)
"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert."
A Clarke Law?
"All explorers are seeking something they have lost. It is seldom that
they find it, and more seldom still that the attainment brings them
greater happiness than the quest."
"The City and the Stars" (1956)
"The fact that we have not yet found the slightest evidence for life - much
less intelligence - beyond this Earth does not surprise or disappoint me in
the least. Our technology must still be laughably primitive, we may be like
jungle savages listening for the throbbing of tom-toms while the ether around
them carries more words per second than they could utter in a lifetime."
"Odyssey" p390
"As he stared into the blue infinity that had swallowed his son, the stars
seemed suddenly very close. "Give us another hundred years, he whispered,
"and we'll face you with clean hands and hearts - whatever shapes you be." "
"The Deep Range" (1957)
"In this universe the night was falling; the shadows were lengthening towards an east
that would not know another dawn. But elsewhere the stars were still young and the light
of morning lingered; and along the path he once had followed, Man would one day go again."
"The City and the Stars" (1956)
"It was a pity that there was no radar to guide one across the trackless
seas of life. Every man had to find his own way, steered by some secret
compass of the soul."
"Glide Path" (1963)
"Some electronic components are now so small that more time is spent looking
for them than using them."
(1964)
"More than his father had been buried today; the falling earth had covered his childhood."
"Glide Path" (1963)
"Many and strange are the universes that drift like bubbles in the foam upon the River of Time."
"The Wall of Darkness" (1949)
"The more wonderful the means of communication, the more trivial, tawdry,
or depressing its contents seemed to be."
"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968)
"There is a special sadness in achievement, in the knowledge that a
long-desired goal has been attained at last, and that life must now be
shaped toward new ends."
"The City and the Stars" (1956)
"Like most human tragedies, this one had been caused not by evil intentions, but
by errors of judgement, misunderstandings...."
"Imperial Earth" (1975)
"The lives of men, and all their hopes and fears, were so little against the
inconceivable immensities that they dared to challenge."
"The Songs of Distant Earth" (1986)
"Now he was master of the world, and he was not quite sure what to do next.
But he would think of something."
"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968)
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HAL: "I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think
that any conscious entity can ever hope to do."
"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968)
HAL: "It can only be attributable to human error."
"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968)
"It only costs about a hundred dollars to go to the Moon - in terms of kilowatt hours,
if you were to buy the energy from your friendly local power station. Whereas it costs
about a billion dollars the way we've done it."
"Wired" Magazine
"A faith that cannot survive collision with the truth is not worth many regrets."
Where?
"It is better to know the truth than to dabble in delusions."
Where? (1973)
"Few great men remain great when one gets up close to them."
"The Sands of Mars" (1952)
"Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal."
"Maelstrom II" (1965)
"The mind has an extraordinary ability to "see" things that are
hoped for."
(1973)
"Science fiction is the only genuine consciousness expanding drug."
Where?
Dr Chandra - "All intelligent beings dream. Nobody knows why."
"2010: the year we make contact" (movie 1984)
"Space is what stops everything from happening in the same place."
Where?
"They will have time enough, in those endless aeons, to attempt all things, and to gather all knowledge ... no Gods imagined by our minds have ever possessed the powers they will command ... But for all that, they may envy us, basking in the bright afterglow of Creation; for we knew the Universe when it was young."
FInal sentence from "Profiles of the Future" (1962)
"We may have no malevolent intentions toward an ant heap, but if we want
to build a house on the same site..."
"Rendezvous With Rama" (1973)
"Guns are the crutches of the impotent."
"Astounding Days: A Science Fictional Autobiography" (1990)
"There is a hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags will not wave
in a vacuum."
Where?
"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."
"The Road to the Sea" (1950)
"Whether we are based on carbon or on silicon makes no fundamental difference.
We should all be treated with appropriate respect."
"2010: the year we make contact" (movie 1984)
"I'm sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It's just
been too intelligent to come here."
IRC discussion
"Better to have neighbours we don't like than to be utterly alone."
Where?
"Nothing is so important that you cannot make fun of it."
Where? (1964)
"If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long run - and often in the short one - the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative."
Where?
"
To predict the future we need logic, but we also need faith and imagination, which can sometimes defy logic itself."
Where? (1962)
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My Favourite science fiction author is Sir Arthur C Clarke. Arthur was born in Minehead in 1917.