Quotes by Arthur C. Clarke

“How inappropriate to call this planet earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.”

“Sometimes I think were alone in the universe, and sometimes I think were not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.”

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

“I dont pretend we have all the answers. But the questions are certainly worth thinking about..”

“New ideas pass through three periods: 1) It cant be done. 2) It probably can be done, but its not worth doing. 3) I knew it was a good idea all along!”

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

“I dont believe in God but Im very interested in her.”

“We have to abandon the idea that schooling is something restricted to youth. How can it be, in a world where half the things a man knows at 20 are no longer true at 40 -- and half the things he knows at 40 hadnt been discovered when he was 20?”

“It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God, but to create him.”

“The greatest tragedy in mankinds entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion.”

“It is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive when men have seen the Earth in its true perspective as a single small globe against the stars.”

“The intelligent minority of this world will mark 1 January 2001 as the real beginning of the 21st century and the Third Millennium.”

“Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.”

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

“As our own species is in the process of proving, one cannot have superior science and inferior morals. The combination is unstable and self-destroying.”

“Our lifetime may be the last that will be lived out in a technological society.”

“I have a fantasy where Ted Turner is elected President but refuses because he doesnt want to give up power.”

“Perhaps, as some wit remarked, the best proof that there is Intelligent Life in Outer Space is the fact it hasnt come here. Well, it cant hide forever -- one day we will overhear it.”

“[The competition at the NASA Ames Research Center invited teams to take their best shot at creating the worlds first] space elevator ... The Fountains of Paradise.”

“If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible he is almost certainly right, but if he says that it is impossible he is very probably wrong.”