“Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”

—  Arthur C. Clarke

As quoted in Visions : How Science Will Revolutionize the Twenty-First Century (1999) by Michio Kaku, p. 295
2000s and attributed from posthumous publications

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 29, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying." by Arthur C. Clarke?
Arthur C. Clarke photo
Arthur C. Clarke 207
British science fiction writer, science writer, inventor, u… 1917–2008

Related quotes

Kate DiCamillo photo

“Don't we all live in our heads? Where else could we possibly exist? Our brainsthe universe.”

Kate DiCamillo (1964) American children's writer

Source: Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures

“Relationships are all there is. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else. Nothing exists in isolation. We have to stop pretending we are individuals that can go it alone.”

Margaret J. Wheatley (1941) American writer

Source: Turning to one another (2002), p. 19

Alan Charles Kors photo

“We are either all equally free, or we are not free.”

Alan Charles Kors (1943) American academic

2010s, Who's too Weak to Live with Freedom? (2013)

Paulo Coelho photo

“we are human beings, we are born full of guilt; we feel terrified when happiness becomes a real possibility.”

Paulo Coelho book Eleven Minutes

Source: Eleven Minutes

Victor Hugo photo

“Before him he saw two roads, both equally straight; but he did see two; and that terrified him--he who had never in his life known anything but one straight line. And, bitter anguish, these two roads were contradictory.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

“We have both lost ourselves and created something else, something that exists only as an interlacing of the two of us.”

Robert James Waller (1939–2017) American writer
Shaun Chamberlin photo

“It is hopefully not too controversial to note that unsustainable things end. There are two possibilities from here – we dramatically change direction or we end up where we are headed. Either way, we are on the cusp of radical change.”

Shaun Chamberlin

"Humanity – not just a virus with shoes", Dark Optimism (2019) http://www.darkoptimism.org/2019/08/06/humanity-not-just-a-virus-with-shoes/#post-6037

Philip K. Dick photo

“Well, I hate to admit it, but it is possible that there is (one) such a thing as telepathy and (two) that the CETI project's idea that we might communicate with extraterrestrial beings via telepathy is possibly a reasonable idea--if telepathy exists and if ETIs exist. Otherwise we are trying to communicate with someone who doesn't exist with a system which doesn't work.”

Philip K. Dick book The Dark Haired Girl

The Dark Haired Girl, (1989)

Freeman Dyson photo

“Trouble arises when either science or religion claims universal jurisdiction, when either religious dogma or scientific dogma claims to be infallible. Religious creationists and scientific materialists are equally dogmatic and insensitive. By their arrogance they bring both science and religion into disrepute.”

Freeman Dyson (1923) theoretical physicist and mathematician

Progress In Religion (2000)
Context: Trouble arises when either science or religion claims universal jurisdiction, when either religious dogma or scientific dogma claims to be infallible. Religious creationists and scientific materialists are equally dogmatic and insensitive. By their arrogance they bring both science and religion into disrepute. The media exaggerate their numbers and importance. The media rarely mention the fact that the great majority of religious people belong to moderate denominations that treat science with respect, or the fact that the great majority of scientists treat religion with respect so long as religion does not claim jurisdiction over scientific questions.

Diophantus photo

“If we arrive at an equation containing on each side the same term but with different coefficients, we must take equals from equals until we get one term equal to another term. But, if there are on one or on both sides negative terms, the deficiencies must be added on both bides until all the terms on both sides are positive. Then we must take equals from equals until one term is left on each side.”

Diophantus Arithmetica

As quoted by Thomas Little Heath, Diophantos of Alexandria: https://books.google.com/books?id=ABkPAAAAIAAJ A Study in the History of Greek Algebra (1885)
Arithmetica (c. 250 AD)

Related topics