Arthur C. Clarke's Quotes
Born: 1917-12-16
Profession: Writer
Nation: English
Biography of Arthur C. Clarke
Our lifetime may be the last that will be lived out in a technological society.
Tags: Last, May, SocietyWhen 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.
Tags: Impossible, Possible, WrongAny sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Tags: Advanced, Magic, TechnologyThe limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible.
Tags: Beyond, Impossible, PossibleHow inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.
Tags: Call, Earth, OceanThe greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion.
Tags: Greatest, History, ReligionWe have to abandon the idea that schooling is something restricted to youth. How can it be, in a world where half the things a man knows at 20 are no longer true at 40 - and half the things he knows at 40 hadn't been discovered when he was 20?
Tags: Idea, True, YouthSometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.
Tags: Alone, Sometimes, UniverseNew ideas pass through three periods: 1) It can't be done. 2) It probably can be done, but it's not worth doing. 3) I knew it was a good idea all along!
Tags: Done, Good, IdeaThe only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.
Tags: Beyond, Impossible, PossibleIt may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God - but to create him.
Tags: God, Him, MayI have a fantasy where Ted Turner is elected President but refuses because he doesn't want to give up power.
Tags: Give, Politics, PowerPoliticians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.
Tags: Read, Science, StoriesThe best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.
Tags: Best, Funny, HonestyEvery revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases: 1- It's completely impossible. 2- It's possible, but it's not worth doing. 3- I said it was a good idea all along.
Tags: Good, Impossible, MayHuman judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal.
Tags: Human, Nature, ShowThere is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum.
Tags: Fact, Hopeful, WaveIf an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
Tags: Impossible, Science, WrongThis is the first age that's ever paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one.
Tags: Age, Future, MayIt is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive when men have seen the Earth in its true perspective as a single small globe against the stars.
Tags: Men, Patriotism, TruePerhaps, as some wit remarked, the best proof that there is Intelligent Life in Outer Space is the fact it hasn't come here. Well, it can't hide forever - one day we will overhear it.
Tags: Best, Here, LifeI don't pretend we have all the answers. But the questions are certainly worth thinking about.
Tags: Questions, Thinking, WorthReading computer manuals without the hardware is as frustrating as reading manuals without the software.
Tags: Computer, Computers, Reading