- "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" - Clarke's First Law.
- "The only way to discover the limits of the possible, is to go beyond them, into the impossible" - Clarke's Second Law.
- "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" - Clarke's Third Law.
- "To read computer manuals without the hardware is as frustrating as to read sex manuals without the software". - Clarke's 69th law of magic.
- Before you become too entranced with gorgeous gadgets and mesmerizing video displays, let me remind you that information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, and wisdom is not foresight. Each grows out of the other, and we need them all.
- A well stocked mind is safe from boredom.
- He uses a tame black hole as a filing system! [Describing Stanley Kubrick]
- I want to be remembered most as a writer. I want to entertain readers and hopefully stretch their imaginations as well.
- Some of my best friends are astronomers and I'm sorry to keep throwing stones at them. But they do seem to have an appalling record as prophets.
- I have one ambition - to have a dolphin for a friend. I nearly said 'to own one', but it is a question of who owns who.
- They say that happiness is a childhood wish achieved in adult life. I always wanted the biggest Meccano set. When I am completely senile all I shall want is a large room with a soft carpet and the largest set. Then I shall happily revert to childhood. They've stopped making the No. 10 sets, so I must try to get one of them quickly before it's too late.
- If you understand 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) completely, we failed. We wanted to raise far more questions than we have answered.
- Beyond wisdom there must be foresight. You know that's really the end of the line. Wisdom itself isn't enough. The whole series is data, information, knowledge, wisdom, foresight. There may be something beyond that, but I can't think of it at the moment.
- Stanley [Kubrick] was in some danger of believing in flying saucers. I felt I had arrived just in time to save him from this gruesome fate.
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