Arthur C. Clarke · 256 pages
Rating: (10.9K votes)
“Now I can rejoice that I knew you, rather than mourn because I lost you.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
“...if one had to think about every footstep one took, ordinary walking would be impossible.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
“Problems seldom go away if they’re ignored.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
“He felt like a young student again, confronted with all the art and knowledge of mankind. The experience was both exhilarating and depressing; a whole universe lay at his fingertips, but the fraction of it he could explore in an entire lifetime was so negligible that he was sometimes overwhelmed with despair.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
“Don’t believe anything I’ve told you—merely because I said it.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
“So the problem of Evil never really existed. To expect the universe to be benevolent was like imagining one could always win at a game of pure chance.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
“There’s an ancient philosophical joke that’s much subtler than it seems. Question: Why is the Universe here? Answer: Where else would it be?”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
“The Lassans were insatiably inquisitive, and the concept of privacy was almost unknown to them. A Please Do Not Disturb sign was often regarded as a personal challenge, which led to interesting complications...”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
“Here the trees surrounded them with an invisible, anechoic blanket, so that every word seemed sucked into silence the moment it was uttered.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
“He’s a creature of today—not haunted by the past or fearful of the future!”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
“Death focuses the mind on the things that really matter: why are we here, and what should we do?”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
“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.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
“Soon after her beloved young brother was killed, she asked me, “What is the purpose of grief? Does it serve any biological function?”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
“harsh verdict of the great philosopher Lucretius: all religions were fundamentally immoral, because the superstitions they peddled wrought more evil than good.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
“The sign of its passing was written there upon the sky as if a giant hand had drawn a piece of chalk across the blue dome of heaven. Even as they watched, the gleaming vapor trail began to fray at the edges, breaking up into wisps of cloud, until it seemed that a bridge of snow had been thrown from horizon to horizon.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
“This was the fundamental problem with rockets—and no one had ever discovered any alternative for deep-space propulsion. It was just as difficult to lose speed as to acquire it, and carrying the necessary propellant for deceleration did not merely double the difficulty of a mission; it squared it.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
“Ya sé, desde luego, que la Atlántida de Platón nunca existió en realidad. Por esta misma razón, nunca podrá morir. Siempre será un ideal, un sueño de perfección , una meta que inspirará a los hombres en la posteridad.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
“Apart from this common Lassan tendency to procrastinate, Kumar’s chief defects were an adventurous nature and a fondness for sometimes risky practical jokes. This,”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
Arthur C. Clarke
Born place: in Minehead, Somerset, England, The United Kingdom
Born date December 16, 1917
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“Annie is my wife, and she will remain wi' me as my wife, subject only to my rule. I will suffer no man to dishonor her or lay hand upon her so long as I live.”
― Pamela Clare, quote from Surrender
“Michael,” he heard her say, her voice soft. “Please look at me and let me show you what love is.”
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“Now, it felt like they were transferring their best qualities to each other, so Ethan felt strong and smart. Carter tapped the steering wheel as he drove, so Ethan tapped his knee, as if he could take away some of Carter's twiches, even though Ethan loved them as part of Carter. But, if they caused Carter pain, then Ethan would wish them away.”
― Ryan Loveless, quote from Ethan, Who Loved Carter
“I would listen to her soft voice and wonder if, somewhere deep inside, she was screaming, too.”
― Zoë Marriott, quote from Shadows on the Moon
“All those who are left legacies in my will…will obtain my bequests only on one condition, that they cut my body in pieces and eat it before the eyes of the citizens…You must merely shield your eyes, and imagine that what you have swallowed is not human entrails but ten million sesterces.”
― Petronius Arbiter, quote from The Satyricon
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