Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRASwas a British science fiction writer, science writer and futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth16 December 1917
fear dark ideas
'The Devil in the Dark' impressed me because it presented the idea, unusual in science fiction then and now, that something weird, and even dangerous, need not be malevolent. That is a lesson that many of today's politicians have yet to learn.
running fear dark
Invade me now, my ruthless friend, And make me cower in the dark. Remind me that I'm all alone And draw upon my face your mark. How is it that you capture me, When all my thoughts deny your force? Is it the reptile in my brain That lets your terror run its course? Baseless Fear undoes us all Despite our quest for lofty goals. We would-be Galahads don't die, Fear just freezes all our souls. It keeps us mute when feeling love, Reminding us what we might lose. And if by chance we meet success, Fear tells us which safe route to choose.
fear real believe
Some dangers are so spectacular and so much beyond normal experience that the mind refuses to accept them as real, and watches the approach of doom without any sense of apprehension. The man who looks at the onrushing tidal wave, the descending avalanche, or the spinning funnel of the tornado, yet makes no attempt to flee, is not necessarily paralyzed with fright or resigned to an unavoidable fate. He may simply be unable to believe that the message of his eyes concerns him personally. It is all happening to somebody else.
god atheist fear
It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God - but to create him.
heart giving singh
Why, Robert Singh often wondered, did we give our hearts to friends whose life spans are so much shorter than our own?
thinking space sea
We seldom stop to think that we are still creatures of the sea, able to leave it only because, from birth to death, we wear the water-filled space suits of our skins.
certainly pretend thinking worth
I don't pretend we have all the answers. But the questions are certainly worth thinking about.
beyond discover limits
The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.
sun hundred billions
If such a thing had happened once, it must surely have happened many times in this galaxy of a hundred billion suns.
mother children farewell
The time was fast approaching when Earth, like all mothers, must say farewell to her children.
dozen littles imagine
Floyd could imagine a dozen things that could go wrong; it was little consolation that it was always the thirteenth that actually happened.
long people tangled
If the house is to be demolished tomorrow anyhow, people seem to feel, we may as well burn the furniture today. None of our problems are insoluble...But it seems clear that to prevail we humans will have to act with a smartness and selflessness that has so far eluded us during our long and tangled history.
taken firsts steps
What was more, they had taken the first step toward genuine friendship. They had exchanged vulnerabilities.
thought-provoking youth wonderful
It must be wonderful to be seventeen, and to know everything.