They had not yet attained the stupefying boredom of omnipotence; their experiments did not always succeed. Arthur C. Clarke More Quotes by Arthur C. Clarke More Quotes From Arthur C. Clarke 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. Arthur C. Clarke ambition hope writing 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] Arthur C. Clarke communication sky science In this single galaxy of ours there are eighty-seven thousand million suns. [...] In challenging it, you would be like ants attempting to label and classify all the grains of sand in all the deserts of the world. [...] It is a bitter thought, but you must face it. The planets you may one day possess. But the stars are not for man. Arthur C. Clarke stars challenges men There's a passage about 'rivers of molten rock that wound their way... until they cooled and lay like twisted dragon-shapes vomited from the tormented earth.' That's a perfect description: how did Tolkien know, a quarter century before anyone ever saw a picture of Io? Talk about Nature imitating Art. Arthur C. Clarke rocks dragons art The West needs to relearn what the rest of the world has never forgotten - that there is nothing sinful in leisure as long as it does not degenerate into mere sloth. Arthur C. Clarke sloth doe long I doubt if there is a single field of study so theoretical, so remote from what is laughingly called everyday life, that it may not one day produce something that will shake the world. Arthur C. Clarke one-day everyday doubt Humor was the enemy of desire. Arthur C. Clarke desire enemy Our own grandchildren may demonstrate that-sometimes- Gigantic is Beautiful. Arthur C. Clarke grandchildren ambition beautiful Please help keep the world clean: others may wish to use it. Arthur C. Clarke detectives wish fiction Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral. Arthur C. Clarke funeral kind religious Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal. Arthur C. Clarke nature law science Every age has its dreams, its symbols of romance. Past generations were moved by the graceful power of the great windjammers, by the distant whistle of locomotives pounding through the night, by the caravans leaving on the Golden Road to Samarkand, by quinqueremes of Nineveh from distant Ophir . . . Our grandchildren will likewise have their inspiration-among the equatorial stars. They will be able to look up at the night sky and watch the stately procession of the Ports of Earth-the strange new harbors where the ships of space make their planetfalls and their departures. Arthur C. Clarke stars inspiration dream ... chemistry is a trade for people without enough imagination to be physicists. Arthur C. Clarke chemistry imagination people Any smoothly functioning technology will have the appearance of magic. Arthur C. Clarke magic theatre technology If man can live in Manhattan, he can live anywhere. Arthur C. Clarke home men travel '2001' was written in an age which now lies beyond one of the great divides in human history; we are sundered from it forever by the moment when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out on to the Sea of Tranquility. Now history and fiction have become inexorably intertwined. Arthur C. Clarke sea forever lying If the house is to be demolished tomorrow anyhow, people seem to feel, we may as well burn the furniture today. None of our problems are insoluble... But it seems clear that to prevail we humans will have to act with a smartness and selflessness that has so far eluded us during our long and tangled history. Arthur C. Clarke tangled long people Floyd could imagine a dozen things that could go wrong; it was little consolation that it was always the thirteenth that actually happened. Arthur C. Clarke dozen imagine littles It must be wonderful to be seventeen, and to know everything. Arthur C. Clarke thought-provoking youth wonderful 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. Arthur C. Clarke encounters secret relationship
