Arthur C. Clarke Quotes

34 quotes

British science fiction writer, inventor, and futurist (1917–2008)

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

"The person one loves never really exists, but is a projection focused through the lens of the mind onto whatever screen it fits with least distortion."

on Love

"A faith that cannot survive collision with the truth is not worth many regrets."

on Faith

"Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying."

on Philosophy

"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."

on Philosophy

"Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering."

on Philosophy

"The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible."

on Motivation

"The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible."

on Motivation

"The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible."

on Motivation

"The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible"

on Motivation

"I am an optimist. Anyone interested in the future has to be otherwise he would simply shoot himself."

on Life

"It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value."

on Intelligence

"It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God - but to create him."

on Philosophy

"The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion."

on Philosophy

"Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal."

on Nature

"Excessive interest in pathological behavior was itself pathological"

on Psychology

"Never attribute to malevolence what is merely due to incompetence"

on Wisdom

"Magic's just science that we don't understand yet."

on Science

"…once science had declared a thing possible, there was no escape from its eventual realization…"

on Innovation

"Few artists thrive in solitude and nothing is more stimulating than the conflict of minds with similar interests."

on Art

"How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean."

on Nature