Zitate von Arthur C. Clarke

„Jede hinreichend fortgeschrittene Technologie ist von Magie nicht mehr zu unterscheiden.“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

Clarkes Drittes Gesetz aus Profiles of the Future - zitiert von Andreas Weber in: Biokapital. Die Versöhnung von Ökonomie, Natur und Menschlichkeit, Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 3827007925, Seite 57.
Original engl.: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Profiles of the future: an inquiry into the limits of the possible (revised edition 1973). Seite 36
Variante: Jede hinreichend fortschrittliche Technologie ist von Magie nicht zu unterscheiden

„Einsteinian time dilation.“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

2010: Odyssey Two

„Kommunikationstechnologien sind notwendig, aber nicht ausreichend, damit wir Menschen miteinander auskommen können.“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

„Ich möchte so früh wie möglich einen dauerhaften und bedeutungsvollen Frieden in Sri Lanka erreichen. Mir ist jedoch bewusst, dass Frieden nicht nur gewünscht werden kann. Es beinhaltet harte Arbeit, Mut und Ausdauer.“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

„Ich möchte, dass wir unsere Stammesunterschiede überwinden und anfangen, so zu denken und zu handeln, als wären wir eine Familie. Das wäre echte Globalisierung…“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

„Ich bin sicher, das Universum ist voll von intelligentem Leben. Es war einfach zu intelligent, um hierher zu kommen.“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

„Clarkes Drittes Gesetz: Jede hinreichend fortgeschrittene Technologie ist von Magie nicht mehr zu unterscheiden.“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

„Clarkes zweites Gesetz: Die einzige Möglichkeit, die Grenzen des Möglichen zu entdecken, besteht darin, sich ein Stück weit an ihnen vorbei ins Unmögliche zu wagen.“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

„Es muss wunderbar sein, siebzehn zu sein und alles zu wissen.“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

„Magie ist nur eine Wissenschaft, die wir noch nicht verstehen.“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

„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.“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

„I'm sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It's just been too intelligent to come here.“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

IRC discussion at Scifi.com (1 November 1996) http://web.archive.org/web/20021201214228/http://www.scifi.com/transcripts/aclarke.txt with Clarke and Gentry Lee
1990s

„In my time I’ve been very fortunate to see many of my dreams come true!“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

90th Birthday Reflections (2007)
Kontext: In my time I’ve been very fortunate to see many of my dreams come true! Growing up in the 1920s and 1930s, I never expected to see so much happen in the span of a few decades. We "space cadets" of the British Interplanetary Society spent all our spare time discussing space travel — but we didn’t imagine that it lay in our own near future… I still can't quite believe that we've just marked the 50th anniversary of the Space Age! We’ve accomplished a great deal in that time, but the "Golden Age of Space" is only just beginning. Over the next 50 years, thousands of people will travel to Earth orbit — and then, to the Moon and beyond. Space travel — and space tourism — will one day become almost as commonplace as flying to exotic destinations on our own planet.

„Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

As quoted in Visions : How Science Will Revolutionize the Twenty-First Century (1999) by Michio Kaku, p. 295
2000s and attributed from posthumous publications

„Clarke's Second Law: The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

"Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination" in Profiles of the Future (1962)
On Clarke's Laws

„Clarke's Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

Profiles of the Future (revised edition, 1973)
On Clarke's Laws
Quelle: Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry Into the Limits of the Possible

„Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy. But it is the best of all to be sane and happy. Whether our descendants can achieve that goal will be the greatest challenge of the future. Indeed, it may well decide whether we have any future.“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

3001: The Final Odyssey (1997)
1990s
Kontext: Finally, I would like to assure my many Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim friends that I am sincerely happy that the religion which Chance has given you has contributed to your peace of mind (and often, as Western medical science now reluctantly admits, to your physical well-being). Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy. But it is the best of all to be sane and happy. Whether our descendants can achieve that goal will be the greatest challenge of the future. Indeed, it may well decide whether we have any future.

„Communication technologies are necessary, but not sufficient, for us humans to get along with each other.“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

90th Birthday Reflections (2007)
Kontext: Communication technologies are necessary, but not sufficient, for us humans to get along with each other. This is why we still have many disputes and conflicts in the world. Technology tools help us to gather and disseminate information, but we also need qualities like tolerance and compassion to achieve greater understanding between peoples and nations.
I have great faith in optimism as a guiding principle, if only because it offers us the opportunity of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. So I hope we've learnt something from the most barbaric century in history — the 20th. 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…

„Only a lifetime ago, parents waved farewell to their emigrating children in the virtual certainty that they would never meet again.
And now, within one incredible generation, all this has changed.“

—  Arthur C. Clarke

We'll Never Conquer Space (1960)
Kontext: When the pioneers and adventurers of our past left their homes in search of new lands, they said good-bye forever to the place of their birth and the companions of their youth. Only a lifetime ago, parents waved farewell to their emigrating children in the virtual certainty that they would never meet again.
And now, within one incredible generation, all this has changed.