“He had discharged his destiny; now, perhaps, he could begin to live.”

Source: The City and the Stars (1956), Chapter 25 (p. 187)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "He had discharged his destiny; now, perhaps, he could begin to live." by Arthur C. Clarke?
Arthur C. Clarke photo
Arthur C. Clarke 207
British science fiction writer, science writer, inventor, u… 1917–2008

Related quotes

Octavio Paz photo

“… que busca? Tal vez busca su destino. Tal vez su destino es buscar.

… what is he searching for? Perhaps he searches for his destiny. Perhaps his destiny is to search.”

Octavio Paz (1914–1998) Mexican writer laureated with the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature

Source: El Laberinto de la Soledad

Matthew Stover photo
Halldór Laxness photo
Richard Wright photo
Clifford D. Simak photo

“Perhaps all that had happened had been no more than the working out of human destiny. If the human race could not attain directly the paranormal power he held, this instinct of the mind, then they would gain it indirectly through the agency of one of their creations.”

Clifford D. Simak (1904–1988) American writer, journalist

“All the Traps of Earth” (pp. 190-191); closing words.
Short Fiction, Skirmish (1977)
Context: Perhaps all that had happened had been no more than the working out of human destiny. If the human race could not attain directly the paranormal power he held, this instinct of the mind, then they would gain it indirectly through the agency of one of their creations. Perhaps this, after all, unknown to Man himself, had been the prime purpose of the robots.
He turned and walked slowly down the length of village street, his back turned to the ship and the roaring of the captain, walked contentedly into this new world he'd found, into this world that he would make — not for himself, nor for robotic glory, but for a better Mankind and a happier.
Less than an hour before he'd congratulated himself on escaping all the traps of Earth, all the snares of Man. Not knowing that the greatest trap of all, the final and the fatal trap, lay on this present planet.
But that was wrong, he told himself. The trap had not been on this world at all, nor any other world. It had been inside himself.
He walked serenely down the wagon-rutted track in the soft, golden afternoon of a matchless autumn day, with the dog trotting at his heels.
Somewhere, just down the street, the sick baby lay crying in its crib.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo
Orson Scott Card photo

Related topics