The quotations of

Arthur C. Clarke

British science fiction writer, inventor, and futurist

1917–2008

13 quotes, most often on Science, Technology and Morality.

The goal of the future is full unemployment, so we can play. That’s why we have to destroy the present politico-economic system.
“Los Angeles Free Press” Interview (April 25 1969, p. 43)
- Work
Perhaps our role on this planet is not to worship God — but to create Him.
“The Mind of the Machine” in Report on Planet Three and Other Speculations (1972)
- God
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.
The Exploration of Space (1951), p. 187
- Patriotism
Behind every man now alive stand 30 ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) “Foreword”
- Life & Death
Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal.
“Maelstrom II” (1965)
- Justice
- Nature
As our own species is in the process of proving, one cannot have superior science and inferior morals. The combination is unstable and self-destroying.
Voices from the Sky: Previews of the Coming Space Age (1967)
- Morality
- Science
All explorers are seeking something they have lost. It is seldom that they find it, and more seldom still that the attainment brings them greater happiness than the quest.
The City and the Stars (1956), Ch. 23, p. 174
- Happiness
- Motivation & Goals
If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long run — and often in the short one — the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative.
The Exploration of Space (1951), p. 111
- Science
- Technology
The dinosaurs disappeared because they could not adapt to their changing environment. We shall disappear if we cannot adapt to an environment that now contains spaceships, computers — and thermonuclear weapons.
Foreword to The Collected Stories (June 2000)
- Change
- Technology
Space can be mapped and crossed and occupied without definable limit; but it can never be conquered.
We’ll Never Conquer Space (1960)
- Science
The greatest tragedy in mankind’s entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion.
“Credo” (1991)
- Anti-Religion
- Morality
We have abolished space here on the little Earth; we can never abolish the space that yawns between the stars.
We’ll Never Conquer Space (1960)
- Science
- Technology
I would like to see us overcome our tribal divisions and begin to think and act as if we were one family. That would be real globalisation…
90th Birthday Reflections (2007)
- Hope

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