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Start by following Arthur C. Clarke.
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“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”
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“I'm sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It's just been too intelligent to come here.”
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“The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.”
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“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
― Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible
― Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible
“How inappropriate to call this planet "Earth," when it is clearly "Ocean.”
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“One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion. So now people assume that religion and morality have a necessary connection. But the basis of morality is really very simple and doesn't require religion at all.”
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“Magic's just science that we don't understand yet.”
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“My favourite definition of an intellectual: 'Someone who has been educated beyond his/her intelligence.
[Sources and Acknowledgements: Chapter 19]”
― 3001: The Final Odyssey
[Sources and Acknowledgements: Chapter 19]”
― 3001: The Final Odyssey
“I don’t believe in astrology; I’m a Sagittarius and we’re skeptical.”
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“Before you become too entranced with gorgeous gadgets and mesmerizing video displays, let me remind you that information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, and wisdom is not foresight. Each grows out of the other, and we need them all.”
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“One of the greatest tragedies in mankind's entire history may be that morality was hijacked by religion.”
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“Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living. Since the dawn of time, roughly a hundred billion human beings have walked the planet Earth.
Now this is an interesting number, for by a curious coincidence there are approximately a hundred billion stars in our local universe, the Milky Way. So for every man who has ever lived, in this Universe there shines a star.
But every one of those stars is a sun, often far more brilliant and glorious than the small, nearby star we call the Sun. And many--perhaps most--of those alien suns have planets circling them. So almost certainly there is enough land in the sky to give every member of the human species, back to the first ape-man, his own private, world-sized heaven--or hell.
How many of those potential heavens and hells are now inhabited, and by what manner of creatures, we have no way of guessing; the very nearest is a million times farther away than Mars or Venus, those still remote goals of the next generation. But the barriers of distance are crumbling; one day we shall meet our equals, or our masters, among the stars.
Men have been slow to face this prospect; some still hope that it may never become reality. Increasing numbers, however are asking; 'Why have such meetings not occurred already, since we ourselves are about to venture into space?'
Why not, indeed? Here is one possible answer to that very reasonable question. But please remember: this is only a work of fiction.
The truth, as always, will be far stranger.”
― 2001: A Space Odyssey
Now this is an interesting number, for by a curious coincidence there are approximately a hundred billion stars in our local universe, the Milky Way. So for every man who has ever lived, in this Universe there shines a star.
But every one of those stars is a sun, often far more brilliant and glorious than the small, nearby star we call the Sun. And many--perhaps most--of those alien suns have planets circling them. So almost certainly there is enough land in the sky to give every member of the human species, back to the first ape-man, his own private, world-sized heaven--or hell.
How many of those potential heavens and hells are now inhabited, and by what manner of creatures, we have no way of guessing; the very nearest is a million times farther away than Mars or Venus, those still remote goals of the next generation. But the barriers of distance are crumbling; one day we shall meet our equals, or our masters, among the stars.
Men have been slow to face this prospect; some still hope that it may never become reality. Increasing numbers, however are asking; 'Why have such meetings not occurred already, since we ourselves are about to venture into space?'
Why not, indeed? Here is one possible answer to that very reasonable question. But please remember: this is only a work of fiction.
The truth, as always, will be far stranger.”
― 2001: A Space Odyssey
“In my life I have found two things of priceless worth - learning and loving. Nothing else - not fame, not power, not achievement for its own sake - can possible have the same lasting value. For when your life is over, if you can say 'I have learned' and 'I have loved,' you will also be able to say 'I have been happy.”
― Rama II
― Rama II
“It was the mark of a barbarian to destroy something one could not understand.”
― 2001: A Space Odyssey
― 2001: A Space Odyssey
“What was more, they had taken the first step toward genuine friendship. They had exchanged vulnerabilities.”
― 2010: Odyssey Two
― 2010: Odyssey Two
“It may be that our role on this planet
is not to worship God--but to create him.”
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is not to worship God--but to create him.”
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“No utopia can ever give satisfaction to everyone, all the time. As their material conditions improve, men raise their sights and become discontented with power and possessions that once would have seemed beyond their wildest dreams. And even when the external world has granted all it can, there still remain the searchings of the mind and the longings of the heart.”
― Childhood’s End
― Childhood’s End
“It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.”
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“The more wonderful the means of communication, the more trivial, tawdry, or depressing its contents seemed to be.”
― 2001: A Space Odyssey
― 2001: A Space Odyssey
“I am an optimist. Anyone interested in the future has to be otherwise he would simply shoot himself.”
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“Now I'm a scientific expert; that means I know nothing about absolutely everything.”
― 2001: A Space Odyssey
― 2001: A Space Odyssey
“Science is the only religion of mankind.”
― Childhood’s End
― Childhood’s End
“A faith that cannot survive collision with the truth is not worth many regrets.”
― The Exploration of Space
― The Exploration of Space
“It must be wonderful to be seventeen, and to know everything.”
― 2010: Odyssey Two
― 2010: Odyssey Two
“Every revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases: (1) It's completely impossible. (2) It's possible, but it's not worth doing. (3) I said it was a good idea all along.”
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“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.”
― 2010: Odyssey Two
― 2010: Odyssey Two
“The thing’s hollow—it goes on forever—and—oh my God!—it’s full of stars!”
― 2001: A Space Odyssey
― 2001: A Space Odyssey
“There were some things that only time could cure. Evil men could be destroyed, but nothing could be done with good men who were deluded.”
― Childhood’s End
― Childhood’s End
“Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case, the idea is quite staggering.”
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“Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.”
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