Arthur C. Clarke Quotes Proverbs, and Aphorisms

• December 16, 1917 – March 19, 2008
• British
• Science Fiction Writer, Futurist, Inventor, Author of 2001: A Space Odyssey

Arthur C. Clarke was a British science fiction writer, futurist, and inventor best known for co-authoring the film 2001: A Space Odyssey and for his visionary ideas about space exploration and technology. His literary works, including Childhood’s End, Rendezvous with Rama, and The Fountains of Paradise, combined scientific plausibility with philosophical depth. Clarke famously predicted advances such as satellite communications, which later became reality, earning him recognition as a technological prophet. While some critics found his characters secondary to his concepts, Clarke’s imagination and scientific insight helped elevate science fiction to a respected literary genre. He remains a symbol of curiosity, innovation, and hope for humanity’s future in space.

1. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
2. “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.”
3. “I don’t believe in God but I’m very interested in her.”
4. “It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God – but to create him.”
5. “The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible.”
6. “It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.”
7. “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.”
8. “This is the first age that’s ever paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one.”
9. “Reading computer manuals without the hardware is as frustrating as reading sex manuals without the software.”
10. “Sometimes I think we’re alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we’re not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.”
11. “I don’t believe in astrology; I’m a Sagittarius and we’re skeptical.”
12. “New ideas pass through three periods: 1) It can’t be done. 2) It probably can be done, but it’s not worth doing. 3) I knew it was a good idea all along!”
13. “The greatest tragedy in mankind’s entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion.”
14. “Perhaps, as some wit remarked, the best proof that there is Intelligent Life in Outer Space is the fact it hasn’t come here. Well, it can’t hide forever – one day we will overhear it.”
15. “I don’t pretend we have all the answers. But the questions are certainly worth thinking about.”
16. “Every revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases: 1- It’s completely impossible. 2- It’s possible, but it’s not worth doing. 3- I said it was a good idea all along.”
17. “The best measure of a man’s honesty isn’t his income tax return. It’s the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.”
18. “Our lifetime may be the last that will be lived out in a technological society.”
19. “The intelligent minority of this world will mark 1 January 2001 as the real beginning of the 21st century and the Third Millennium.”
20. “Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal.”
21. “I have a fantasy where Ted Turner is elected President but refuses because he doesn’t want to give up power.”
22. “There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum.”
23. “The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.”
24. “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 hadn’t been discovered when he was 20?”
25. “Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.”
26. “How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.”
27. “When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.”