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6f36397
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Here the trees surrounded them with an invisible, anechoic blanket, so that every word seemed sucked into silence the moment it was uttered.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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1cbeccc
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This hydrogen was under such enormous pressure that it had become a metal.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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6f6a7ec
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The core of Jupiter, forever beyond human reach, was a diamond as big as the Earth.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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639e0c6
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This touch of luxury was typical of the Base, though it was sometimes hard to explain its necessity to the folk back on Earth. Every man and woman in Clavius had cost a hundred thousand dollars in training and transport and housing; it was worth a little extra to maintain their peace of mind. This was not art for art's sake, but art for the sake of sanity.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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0bddab3
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There was no objection when he said: "I'm going after it." Nor did he expect there to be; his life was now his own, to do with as he pleased. He"
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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100751c
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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 a ninety-nine percent overlap, the remaining one percent's enough to set them killing ..
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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755380c
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Because each of us is the sum of all we have ever experienced. Only the very young have a clean slate.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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ddfd206
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He's a creature of today--not haunted by the past or fearful of the future!
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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2416fbc
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Sometimes a decision has to be made by a single individual, who has the authority to enforce it. That's why you need a captain. You can't run a ship by a committee--at least not all the time.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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e05bada
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Now that so many of its psychological problems had been removed, humanity was far saner and less irrational. And what earlier ages would have called vice was now no more than eccentricity--or, at the worst, bad manners.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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cc3d8b9
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One thing seems certain. Our galaxy is now in the brief springtime of its life--a springtime made glorious by such brilliant blue-white stars as Vega and Sirius, and, on a more humble scale, our own Sun. Not until all these have flamed through their incandescent youth, in a few fleeting billions of years, will the real history of the universe begin.
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future
nostalgia
space
time
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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6f8cb6e
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It was the mark of a barbarian to destroy something one could not understand; but
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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4ea5c67
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They had not yet attained the stupefying boredom of absolute omnipotence;
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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f1710e2
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This had not endeared him to exobiologists such as Dr Perera, who took exactly the opposite view. To them, the only purpose of the Universe was the production of intelligence, and they were apt to talk sneeringly about purely astronomical phenomena, 'Mere dead matter' was one of their favourite phrases.
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biology
dead
exobiology
intelligence
matter
universe
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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c55455b
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Suppose, in their altruistic passion for justice and order, they had determined to reform the world, but had not realized that they were destroying the soul of man?
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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f132f18
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Civilization and Religion are incompatible" and "Faith is believing what you know isn't true."
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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f69f892
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electronic diplomacy was not possible over solar-system distances. Some elder statesmen, accustomed to the instantaneous communications that Earth had long taken for granted, had never reconciled themselves to the fact that radio waves took minutes, or even hours, to journey across the gulfs between the planets. "Can't you scientists do something about it?" they had been heard to complain bitterly when told that immediate face-to-face conve..
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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e354583
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When beauty is universal, it loses its power to move the heart,
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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197c5aa
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an expressive phrase coined by a Princeton mathematician of the last century: "Wormholes in space."
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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ca45643
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Jealousy is a terrible thing. "It doth mock the meat it feeds upon" is an understatement. Jealousy is completely consuming, totally irrational, and absolutely debilitating. The most wonderful people in the world are nothing but raging animals when trapped in the throes of jealousy."
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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fcae478
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Naturally, the system would have to be rigidly closed, recycling all food, air, and other expendables. But, of course, that's just how the Earth operates--on a slightly larger scale.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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01e936c
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Only Time is universal; Night and Day are merely quaint local customs found on those planets that tidal forces have not yet robbed of their rotation.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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330ddef
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In a rare flash of humor, she had replied: "Woody, a commander can be wrong, but never uncertain."
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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cd5792d
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You can't have action without reaction.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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4cb0f2f
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Many scientists flatly denied the possibility. They pointed out that Discovery, the fastest ship ever designed, would take twenty thousand years to reach Alpha Centauri -- and millions of years to travel any appreciable distance across the Galaxy. Even if, during the centuries to come, propulsion systems improved out of all recognition, in the end they would meet the impassable barrier of the speed of light, which no material object could e..
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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52fa19d
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Like every human being, Alvin was in some measure a machine, his actions predetermined by his inheritance. That did not alter his need for understanding and sympathy, nor did it render him immune to loneliness or frustration. To his own people, he was so unaccountable a creature that they sometimes forgot that he still shared their emotions.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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4210563
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if it really was brilliant I'd have thought of it already.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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7368d2a
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Enjoy them while you may," answered Rashaverak gently. "They will not be yours for long." It was advice that might have been given to any parent in any age: but now it contained a threat and a terror it had never held before."
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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1b627d3
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The more wonderful the means of communication, the more trivial, tawdry, or depressing its contents seemed to be. Accidents, crimes, natural and man-made disasters, threats of conflict, gloomy editorials--these still seemed to be the main concern of the millions of words being sprayed into the ether. Yet Floyd also wondered if this was altogether
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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a747889
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The fax machine now allows us to exchange ideas almost in real time; it's far more convenient than the Electronic Mail
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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dcc3cae
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Floyd made it a rule never to worry about events over which he could have absolutely no control; any external threat would reveal itself in due time and must be dealt with then. But he could not help wondering if they had done
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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bb54b94
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Profounder things had also passed. It was a completely secular age. Of the faiths that existed before the coming of the overlords, only a form of purified Buddhism, perhaps the most peculiar of all religions, still survived. The creeds that had been based upon miracles and revelations had collapsed utterly. With the rise of education, they had already been slowly dissolving, but for a while the Overlords had taken no sides in the matter. Th..
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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18105c1
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He felt no regrets as the work of a lifetime was swept away. He had labored to take man to the stars, and, in the moment of success, the stars--the aloof, indifferent stars--had come to him. This was the moment when history held its breath, and the present sheared asunder from the past as an iceberg splits from its frozen, parent cliffs, and goes sailing out to sea in lonely pride. All that the past ages had achieved was as nothing now: onl..
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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9938314
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In particular, as was pointed out by Isaacs et al. almost a hundred years ago (see Science, Vol. 151, pp. 682-83, 1966), diamond is the only construction material which would make possible the so-called space elevator, allowing transportation away from Earth at negligible cost.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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848b7b6
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there's something fundamentally wrong with the wiring of our brains, which makes us incapable of consistent logical thinking. To make matters worse, though all creatures need a certain amount of aggressiveness to survive, we seem to have far more than is absolutely necessary. And no other animal tortures its fellows as we do.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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18d727e
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Ten kilometers away, the lights of New York glowed on the skyline like a dawn frozen in the act of breaking.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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250d745
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They could not eat it, and it could not eat them; therefore it was not important.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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aed0dac
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And even if Einstein could not be defied, he might be evaded. Those who sponsored this view talked hopefully about shortcuts through higher dimensions, lines that were straighter than straight, and hyperspacial connectivity. They were fond of using an expressive phrase coined by a Princeton mathematician of the last century: "Wormholes in space." Critics who suggested that these ideas were too fantastic to be taken seriously were reminded o..
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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fde260b
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The universe is full of energy, but much of it is at equilibrium. At equilibrium no energy can flow, and therefore it cannot be used for work, any more than the level waters of a pond can be used to drive a water-wheel. It is on the flow of energy out of equilibrium--the small fraction of "useful" energy, "exergy"--that life depends."
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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060f929
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for there was no vessel--at least of Man's making--anywhere between her and the infinitely distant stars.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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0763c1a
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Once, I believed that space could have no power over faith, just as I believed the heavens declared the glory of God's handwork. Now I have seen that handwork, and my faith is sorely troubled.
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religion
sci-fi
science-fiction
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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51ff1d0
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Even on Earth, the first steps in this direction had been taken. There were millions of men, doomed in earlier ages, who now lived active and happy lives thanks to artificial limbs, kidneys, lungs, and hearts. To this process there could be only one conclusion--however far off it might be.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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cc9ac51
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Woody, a commander can be wrong, but never uncertain.
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Arthur C. Clarke |
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d22de1f
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So here, Floyd told himself, is the first generation of the Spaceborn; there would be more of them in the years to come. Though there was sadness in this thought, there was also a great hope. When Earth was tamed and tranquil, and perhaps a little tired, there would still be scope for those who loved freedom, for the tough pioneers, the restless adventurers. But their tools would not be ax and gun and canoe and wagon; they would be nuclear ..
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Arthur C. Clarke |