Sir Arthur C Clarke, who has died aged 90, was, for many, synonymous with science fiction, and in particular with 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick’s film of his novella The Sentinel. He had the ability to popularise science and his genius as one of the most prophetic voices of the space age. (telegraph.co.uk)
He was one of the world’s best-selling authors of science fiction and was widely considered one of the masters of the genre. The first story Clarke sold professionally was “Rescue Party”, written in March 1945. He obtained first-class honors in Physics and Mathematics at the King’s College, London, in 1948. Apart from his literary endeavors, however, Arthur C. Clarke is remembered as the inventor of a communication satellite.
In 1945 he published the technical paper “Extra-terrestrial Relays” laying down the principles of satellite communication with satellites in geostationary orbits – a speculation realized 25 years later. His invention has brought him numerous honors, such as the 1982 Marconi International Fellowship and a gold medal from the Franklin Institute. (1917 – 2008)
– Arthur C. Clarke Quotes –
Information – in the sense of raw data – is not knowledge; that knowledge is not wisdom; and that wisdom is not foresight. But information is the first essential step to all of these.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
I have a fantasy where Ted Turner is elected President but refuses because he doesn’t want to give up power.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
So for every man who has ever lived, in this universe, there shines a star.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
Since the dawn of time, roughly a hundred billion human beings have walked the planet Earth.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
if you are interested in people, history, nature, and art – the things that really matter – you may find, as I have, that a lifetime is not enough.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
It 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.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
This is the first age that’s ever paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
I’m sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It’s just been too intelligent to come here.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
Every 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.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
The combination is unstable and self-destroying.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
If 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.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
Sometimes I think we’re alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we’re not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
New 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!
~ Arthur C. Clarke
I don’t pretend we have all the answers. But the questions are certainly worth thinking about.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
We 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?
~ Arthur C. Clarke
The greatest tragedy in mankind’s entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God – but to create him.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
Reading computer manuals without the hardware is as frustrating as reading manuals without the software.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
I don’t believe in God but I’m very interested in her.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
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.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
As far as the future is concerned, any political or sociological prediction is impossible. The only area where there is any possibility of success is the technological future.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
The intelligent minority of this world will mark 1 January 2001 as the real beginning of the 21st century and the Third Millennium.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
I don’t believe in astrology; I’m a Sagittarius and we’re skeptical.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
Perhaps, 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.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
Our lifetime may be the last that will be lived out in a technological society.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
The best measure of a man’s honesty isn’t his income tax return. It’s the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.
~ Arthur C. Clarke
