“What was more, they had taken the first step toward genuine friendship. They had exchanged vulnerabilities.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“It must be wonderful to be seventeen, and to know everything.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“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, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“All human plans [are] subject to ruthless revision by Nature, or Fate, or whatever one preferred to call the powers behind the Universe.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“Whether we are based on carbon or on silicon makes no fundamental difference; we should each be treated with appropriate respect.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“Humor was the enemy of desire.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“And because, in all the Galaxy, they had found nothing more precious than Mind, they encouraged its dawning everywhere. They became farmers in the fields of stars; they sowed, and sometimes they reaped. And sometimes, dispassionately, they had to weed.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“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, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“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 the message of his eyes concerns him personally. It is all happening to somebody else.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS, EXCEPT EUROPA.
ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE.
USE THEM TOGETHER. USE THEM IN PEACE.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“Good morning, Dr. Chandra. This is Hal. I am ready for my first lesson.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“They had not yet attained the stupefying boredom of omnipotence; their experiments did not always succeed.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“But it had been widely argued that advanced intelligence could never arise in the sea; there were not enough challenges in so benign and unvarying an environment.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“He left the unspoken question hanging in the air. How did one annoy a two- kilometre-long black rectangular slab? And just what form would its disapproval take”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“Men knew better than they realized, when they placed the abode of the gods beyond the reach of gravity.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“A major part of his job was deciding when warnings could be ignored, when they could be dealt with at leisure—and when they had to be treated as real emergencies. If he paid equal attention to all the ship’s cries for help, he would never get anything done. He”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“This hydrogen was under such enormous pressure that it had become a metal.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“The core of Jupiter, forever beyond human reach, was a diamond as big as the Earth.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“They had not yet attained the stupefying boredom of absolute omnipotence;”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“In a rare flash of humor, she had replied: “Woody, a commander can be wrong, but never uncertain.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“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”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“Woody, a commander can be wrong, but never uncertain.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“How foolish that expectation had been! He knew now that one might as well hope to see the wind, or speculate about the true shape of fire.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“Astronomy was full of such intriguing but meaningless coincidences. The most famous was the fact that, from the Earth, both Sun and Moon have the same apparent diameter.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“The crew of Apollo 8, who at Christmas, 1968, became the first men ever to set eyes upon the Lunar Farside, told me that they had been tempted to radio back the discovery of a large black monolith: alas, discretion prevailed.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“His mind wandered, seeking other examples. People—particularly older ones—still spoke of putting film into a camera, or gas into a car. Even the phrase “cutting a tape” was still sometimes heard in recording studios—though that embraced two generations of obsolete technologies.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“This would involve disconnection—the computer equivalent of death. Despite”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“Hal in full control of the ship. The”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“For the last time, David Bowman slept.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“The image of Jupiter, with its ribbons of white cloud, its mottled bands of salmon pink, and the Great Red Spot staring out like a baleful eye, hung steady on the flight-deck projection screen.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from 2010: Odyssey Two
“The flip side of being a person who never fails at anything is that you never do anything you could fail at. You never do anything risky. There’s a certain essential lack of courage among people who seem to be good at everything. Faye,”
― quote from The Nix
“Even someone as disguisting as Dobson deserved the chance to grow up and become a better person.”
― Brittany Cavallaro, quote from A Study in Charlotte
“I have heard all of the stories about girls like me, and I am unafraid to make more of them.”
― Carmen Maria Machado, quote from Her Body and Other Parties
“Will I begin it? said Doyler laughing. That's all that's in it, he laughing said.
Oh sure that grin. Oh sure that wonderful saucerful grin. Jim sat on the grass and he plucked at the blades. He knew for certain sure that Doyler would be turning from him again. He said, You'll be walking away from me soon, won't you now? There was no answer. Jim plucked the grass and stared beyond where the waves broke on the island shore. He said, I wish you wouldn't Doyler. It does break my heart when you walk away.
Old pal o' me heart, said Doyler.
But already he had turned, and he was walking away. Walking that slow dreadful slope with never a leaf or a stone. Walking; and though Jim tried to keep pace, e could not, and sometimes he called out, Doyler! Doyler! but he never heard or he did not heed, only farther and farther he walked away. And when Jim woke from these dreams, if he did not remember, he knew he had dreamt, for the feeling inside him of not feeling at all. And it was hard then to make his day.”
― Jamie O'Neill, quote from At Swim, Two Boys
“Father Michaels' sermon was mercifully short. He had a reputation for three-minute homilies, tightly written, provocative and insightful. His words centered on the true meaning of Christianity. That is was all about love. Love of God, love of self, love of family, love of community.
Love was a gift.”
― Dorothea Benton Frank, quote from Sullivan's Island
BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.