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0db1d8e
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They would never know how lucky they had been. For a lifetime, mankind had achieved as much happiness as any race can ever know. It had been the Golden Age. But gold was also the color of sunset, of autumn: and only Karellen's ears could catch the first wailings of the winter storms.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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23b57ec
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He found it both sad and fascinating that only through an artificial universe of video images could she establish contact with the real world.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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b378a75
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If we both believe that we have nothing to learn from the other, is it not obvious that we will both be wrong?
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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ab27954
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For the last century, almost all top political appointments [on the planet Earth] had been made by random computer selection from the pool of individuals who had the necessary qualifications. It had taken the human race several thousand years to realize that there were some jobs that should never be given to the people who volunteered for them, especially if they showed too much enthusiasm. As one shrewed political commentator had remarked:..
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politics
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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545b1e9
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ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS, EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE. USE THEM TOGETHER. USE THEM IN PEACE.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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1febdce
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In accordance with the terms of the Clarke-Asimov treaty, the second-best science writer dedicates this book to the second-best science-fiction
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sci-fi
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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96963bb
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Floyd could imagine a dozen things that could go wrong; it was little consolation that it was always the thirteenth that actually happened.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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23b31f2
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He had a suspicion of plausible answers; they were so often wrong.
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plausibility
wrong
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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80f4ffd
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man's beliefs were his own affair, so long as they did not interfere with the liberty of others.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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ddca407
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Some dangers are so spectacular and so much beyond normal experience that the mind refuses to accept them as real, and watches the approach of doom without any sense of apprehension. The man who looks at the onrushing tidal wave, the descending avalanche, or the spinning funnel of the tornado, yet makes no attempt to flee, is not necessarily paralyzed with fright or resigned to an unavoidable fate. He may simply be unable to believe that th..
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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73981ec
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Unlike the animals, who knew only the present, Man had acquired a past; and he was beginning to grope toward a future.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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9e311a2
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He was only aware of the conflict that was slowly destroying his integrity--the conflict between truth, and concealment of truth.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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371f8b6
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Imagine that you're an intelligent extraterrestrial, concerned only with verifiable truths. You discover a species that has divided itself into thousands - no, by now millions - of tribal groups holding an incredible variety of beliefs about the origin of the universe and the way to behave in it. Although many of them have ideas in common, even when there's 99% overlap, the remaining one percent's enough to set them killing and torturing ea..
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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f9f10e8
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Evil men could be destroyed, but nothing could be done with good men who were deluded.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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a271111
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He was moving through a new order of creation, of which few men had ever dreamed. Beyond the realms of sea and land and air and space lay the realms of fire, which he alone had been privileged to glimpse. It was too much to expect that he would also understand.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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2c9aff5
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It is a good principle in science not to believe any 'fact'---however well attested---until it fits into some accepted frame of reference. Occasionally, of course, an observation can shatter the frame and force the construction of a new one, but that is extremely rare. Galileos and Einsteins seldom appear more than once per century, which is just as well for the equanimity of mankind.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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cde4d54
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The greatest danger is panic
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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97ebefa
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all the world's religions cannot be right, and they know it. Sooner or later man has to learn the truth:
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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1857cb8
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He did not know that the Old One was his father, for such a relationship was utterly beyond his understanding, but as he looked at the emaciated body he felt a dim disquiet that was the ancestor of sadness.
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apes
death
sadness
science
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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99b6e5c
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When beauty is universal, it loses its power to move the heart, and only its absence can produce any emotional effect.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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b32fa0d
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Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy. But it is the best of all to be sane and happy. Whether our descendants can achieve that goal will be the greatest challenge of the future. Indeed, it may well decide whether we have any future.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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e5d410d
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Training was one thing, reality another, and no one could be sure that the ancient human instincts of self-preservation would not take over in an emergency.
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first-contact
self-preservation
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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7f44426
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Long ago it had been discovered that without some crime or disorder, Utopia soon became unbearably dull.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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c5c6cbb
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As his body became more and more defenseless, so his means of offense became steadily more frightful.
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evolution
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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4e4e062
|
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. And sometimes, late or early, the compass lost its power and spun aimlessly on its bearings. Alan Bishop
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compass
direction
life
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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e75dfe4
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if one had to think about every footstep one took, ordinary walking would be impossible.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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7d72e3b
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There was nothing left of Earth. They had leeched away the last atoms of its substance. It had nourished them, through the fierce moments of their inconceivable metamorphosis, as the food stored in a grain of wheat feeds the infant plant while it climbs towards the Sun.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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17fde01
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Now, before you make a movie, you have to have a script, and before you have a script, you have to have a story; though some avant-garde directors have tried to dispense with the latter item, you'll find their work only at art theaters.
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storytelling
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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2c7fe51
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It is a bitter thought, but you must face it. The planets you may one day possess. But the stars are not for man.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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2ecccd0
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no on of intelligence resents the inevitable.
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rationality
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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2348aac
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And Stormgren hoped that when Karellen was free to walk once more on Earth, he would one day come to these northern forests, and stand beside the grave of the first man to be his friend.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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880ed8f
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Good morning, Dr. Chandra. This is Hal. I am ready for my first lesson.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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dc126fc
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Problems seldom go away if they're ignored.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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36b5535
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The world's now placid, featureless, and culturally dead: nothing really new has been created since the Overlords came. The reason's obvious. There's nothing left to struggle for, and there are too many distractions and entertainments. Do you realize that every day something like five hundred hours of radio and TV pour out over the various channels? If you went without sleep and did nothing else, you could follow less than a twentieth of th..
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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15d299b
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Yes, it made sense, and was so absurdly simple that it would take a genius to think of it. And, perhaps, someone who did not expect to do it himself.
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simple-plan
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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0790fb3
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I'm a scientific expert; that means I know nothing about absolutely everything.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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8c4aab4
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Western man had relearned-what the rest of the world had never forgotten-that there was nothing sinful in leisure as long as it did not degenerate into mere sloth.
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pleasure
relax
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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f06fedc
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My dear Rikki," Karellen retorted, "it's only by not taking the human race seriously that I retain what fragments of my once considerable mental powers I still possess!" Despite himself, Stormgren smiled."
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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3bd92ff
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Jupiter's fly-by had been carried out with impeccable precision. Like a ball on a cosmic pool table, Discovery had bounced off the moving gravitational field of Jupiter, and had gained momentum from the impact. Without using any fuel, she had increased her speed by several thousand miles an hour. Yet there was no violation of the laws of mechanics; Nature always balances her books, and Jupiter had lost exactly as much momentum as Discovery ..
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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af96dbe
|
Finally, I would like to assure my many Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim friends that I am sincerely happy that the religion which Chance has given you has contributed to your peace of mind (and often, as Western medical science now reluctantly admits, to your physical well-being). Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy. But it is the best of all to be sane and happy. Whether our descendants can a..
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religion-and-science
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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37fd0c1
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And there still remained, for all men to share, the linked worlds of Love and Art. Linked, because love without art is merely the slaking of desire, and Art cannot be enjoyed unless it is approached with Love.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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684df1f
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Those wanderers must have looked on Earth, circling safely in the narrow zone between fire and ice, and must have guessed that it was the favourite of the Sun's children.
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science-fiction
|
Arthur C. Clarke |
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54e66c9
|
Alvin was an explorer, and 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.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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8620862
|
Because politics is the science of the possible, it only appeals to second-rate minds. The first raters only interested in the impossible
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Arthur C. Clarke |