He did not know that the Old One was his father, for such a relationship was utterly beyond his understanding, but as he looked at the emaciated body he felt a dim disquiet that was the ancestor of sadness. (Arthur C. Clarke, "2001: A Space Odyssey")
Now, before you make a movie, you have to have a script, and before you have a script, you have to have a story; though some avant-garde directors have tried to dispense with the latter item, you'll find their work only at art theaters. (Arthur C. Clarke, "2001: A Space Odyssey")
The confrontation lasted about five minutes; then the display died out as quickly as it had begun, and everyone drank his fill of the muddy water. Honor had been satisfied; each group had staked its claim to its own territory. (Arthur C. Clarke, "2001: A Space Odyssey")
The more wonderful the means of communication, the more trivial, tawdry, or depressing its contents seemed to be. (Arthur C. Clarke, "2001: A Space Odyssey")
Though the man-apes often fought and wrestled one another, their disputes very seldom resulted in serious injuries. Having no claws or fighting canine teeth, and being well protected by hair, they could not inflict much harm on one another. In any event, they had little surplus energy for such unproductive behavior; snarling and threatening was a much more efficient way of asserting their points of view. (Arthur C. Clarke, "2001: A Space Odyssey")
No utopia can ever give satisfaction to everyone, all the time. As their material conditions improve, men raise their sights and become discontented with power and possessions that once would have seemed beyond their wildest dreams. And even when the external world has granted all it can, there still remain the searchings of the mind and the longings of the heart. (Arthur C. Clarke, "Childhood's End")
Science can destroy religion by ignoring it as well as by disproving its tenets. No one ever demonstrated, so far as I am aware, the nonexistence of Zeus or Thor, but they have few followers now. (Arthur C. Clarke, "Childhood's End")
There was nothing left of Earth. They had leeched away the last atoms of its substance. It had nourished them, through the fierce moments of their inconceivable metamorphosis, as the food stored in a grain of wheat feeds the infant plant while it climbs towards the Sun. (Arthur C. Clarke, "Childhood's End")
There were some things that only time could cure. Evil men could be destroyed, but nothing could be done with good men who were deluded. (Arthur C. Clarke, "Childhood's End")
Utopia was here at last: its novelty had not yet been assailed by the supreme enemy of a ll Utopias - boredom. (Arthur C. Clarke, "Childhood's End")
The piece of equipment I'm most found off is my telescope. The other night I had a superb view of the moon. (Arthur C. Clarke)
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. (Arthur C. Clarke)
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