Arthur C. Clarke: Trending quotes (page 9)

“For what is life but organized energy?”

Arthur C. Clarke

Out of the Sun, p. 656
2000s and posthumous publications, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

Life

“This sounded promising, and my coefficient of cupidity jumped several points.”

Arthur C. Clarke book I Remember Babylon

I Remember Babylon, p. 705
2000s and posthumous publications, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

“There was nothing like a museum for calming the mind, for putting the problems of everyday life in their true perspective. Here, surrounded by the infinite variety and wonder of Nature, he was reminded of truths he had forgotten. He was only one of a million million creatures that shared this planet Earth. The entire human race, with its hopes and fears, its triumphs and its follies, might be no more than an incident in the history of the world.”

Arthur C. Clarke book Death and the Senator

Death and the Senator, p. 744
2000s and posthumous publications, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

Fear , History , Hope , Nature

“It is hardly necessary for me to say that I do not believe in the supernatural; everything that happened has a perfectly rational explanation, obvious to any man with the slightest knowledge of psychology.”

Arthur C. Clarke book Dog Star

Dog Star, p. 786
2000s and posthumous publications, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

Knowledge

“The idea of death was utterly incongruous—as it is to all men until the final second.”

Arthur C. Clarke

Maelstrom II, p. 789
2000s and posthumous publications, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

Idea , Death , Men

“Christine would surely be talking, even if she had only an ape as audience. To her, any silence was as great a challenge as a blank canvas; it had to be filled with the sound of her own voice.”

Arthur C. Clarke

An Ape About the House, p. 802
2000s and posthumous publications, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

Silence

“I am afraid that this chapter will amply demonstrate the truth of Clarke's 69th Law, viz., "Reading computer manuals without the hardware is as frustrating as reading sex manuals without the software."”

Arthur C. Clarke

In both cases the cure is simple though usually very expensive.
"Appendix II: MITE for Morons," The Odyssey File (1984), p. 123
1960s, Clarke's Three Laws, et al (1962; 1973…)

Truth , Sex , Law , Reading

“There is the possibility that humankind can outgrow its infantile tendencies, as I suggested in Childhood's End.”

Arthur C. Clarke

But it is amazing how childishly gullible humans are. There are, for example, so many different religions — each of them claiming to have the truth, each saying that their truths are clearly superior to the truths of others — how can someone possibly take any of them seriously? I mean, that's insane. ...Though I sometimes call myself a crypto-Buddhist, Buddhism is not a religion. Of those around at the moment, Islam is the only one that has any appeal to me. But, of course, Islam has been tainted by other influences. The Muslims are behaving like Christians, I'm afraid.
"God, Science, and Delusion: A Chat With Arthur C. Clarke" Free Inquiry magazine, Volume 19, Number 2 (Spring 1999) http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=clarke_19_2
2000s and attributed from posthumous publications

Childhood

“I'm sometimes asked how I would like to be remembered. I've had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer, space promoter and science populariser. Of all these, I want to be remembered most as a writer — one who entertained readers, and, hopefully, stretched their imagination as well.”

Arthur C. Clarke

2000s and posthumous publications, 90th Birthday Reflections (2007)

Science , Imagination

“I now spend a good part of my day dreaming of times past, present and future. As I try to survive on 15 hours sleep a day, I have plenty of time to enjoy vivid dreams. Being completely wheel-chaired doesn't stop my mind from roaming the universe — on the contrary!”

Arthur C. Clarke

2000s and posthumous publications, 90th Birthday Reflections (2007)

Sleep , Time , Past , Future

“The false logic involved is: “We exist; therefore something—call it X—created us.””

Arthur C. Clarke book Crusade

Once this assumption is made, the properties of the hypothetical X can be fantasied in an unlimited number of ways.
But the entire process is obviously fallacious; for by the same logic something must have created X—and so on. We are immediately involved in an infinite regress, which can have no meaning in the real universe.

Crusade, p. 878
2000s and posthumous publications, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

Falseness

“There may be a moral here. For the life of me I can’t find it.”

Arthur C. Clarke book What Goes Up

Source: 2000s and posthumous publications, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001), What Goes Up, p. 529

Life

“History, it has been said, never repeats itself but historical situations recur.”

Arthur C. Clarke

Earthlight, p. 347
2000s and posthumous publications, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

History

“Great art and domestic bliss are mutually incompatible. Sooner or later, you’ll have to make your choice.”

Arthur C. Clarke book The Road to the Sea

The Road to the Sea, p. 298
2000s and posthumous publications, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

Making love , Art

“Though I've often made fun of the scientists, they’ve freed us forever from the stagnation that was overtaking your race.”

Arthur C. Clarke book The Road to the Sea

The Road to the Sea, p. 298
2000s and posthumous publications, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

“I doubt if such a word exists, and if it does, it shouldn’t.”

Arthur C. Clarke book Silence Please

Silence Please, p. 247
2000s and posthumous publications, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

“It is surprising how long it takes to do a simple addition when your life depends on the answer.”

Arthur C. Clarke book Breaking Strain

Breaking Strain, p. 172
2000s and posthumous publications, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

Life , Dependency

“Why should one be afraid of something merely because it is strange?”

Arthur C. Clarke book The Wall of Darkness

The Wall of Darkness, p. 114
2000s and posthumous publications, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

“The danger of asteroid or comet impact is one of the best reasons for getting into space … I'm very fond of quoting my friend Larry Niven: "The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn't have a space program. And if we become extinct because we don't have a space program, it'll serve us right!"”

Arthur C. Clarke

"Meeting of the Minds : Buzz Aldrin Visits Arthur C. Clarke" by Andrew Chaikin (27 February 2001) http://web.archive.org/web/20010302082528/http://www.space.com/peopleinterviews/aldrin_clarke_010227.html
2000s and posthumous publications

Quotes

“I can never look now at the Milky Way without wondering from which of those banked clouds of stars the emissaries are coming. If you will pardon so commonplace a simile, we have broken the glass of the fire-alarm and have nothing to do but to wait.
I do not think we will have to wait for long”

Arthur C. Clarke

"The Sentinel" (1948), originally titled "Sentinel of Eternity" this is the short story which later provided the fundamental ideas for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) written by Clarke and Stanley Kubrick. Full text in 10 Story Fantasy, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1951), p. 41 https://archive.org/details/10_Story_Fantasy_v01n01_1951-Spring_Tawrast-EXciter/page/n39. Two versions of the next to the last sentence have been widely published since at least 1951, the other being: "If you will pardon so commonplace a simile, we have set off the fire alarm and have nothing to do but to wait."
1940s

Way , Thinking , Star , Waiting