Frasi di Arthur C. Clarke

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“Ogni tecnologia sufficientemente avanzata è indistinguibile dalla magia.”

“Se qualcuno capisce il film alla prima visione, allora abbiamo fallito nel nostro intento.”

“Lenin è stato sfortunato; è nato cent'anni troppo presto. Il comunismo sovietico avrebbe potuto funzionare, almeno per un po', se avesse avuto un microchip. E sarebbe riuscito a evitare Stalin.”

“L'unica maniera di scoprire i limiti del possibile è di oltrepassarli e finire nell'impossibile.”

“Dietro ogni uomo oggi vivente stanno trenta spettri, poiché questo è il rapporto con il quale i morti superano il numero dei vivi. Dagli albori del tempo, grosso modo cento miliardi di uomini hanno camminato sul pianeta Terra. Orbene, è questo un numero interessante, in quanto, per una coincidenza bizzarra, esistono approssimativamente cento miliardi di stelle nel nostro universo locale, la Via Lattea. Così, per ogni uomo che abbia vissuto, in questo universo splende una stella.”

“Ora sono un esperto scientifico; ciò significa che non so nulla di assolutamente tutto.”

“Inoltre, avevano fatto il primo passo verso un'amicizia genuina. Si erano scambiati vulnerabilità.”

“Più meravigliosi sono i mezzi di comunicazione, più i suoi contenuti sembrano essere banali, osceni o deprimenti.”

“Non faccio finta di avere tutte le risposte. Ma vale sicuramente la pena pensare alle domande ...”

“My favourite definition of an intellectual: 'Someone who has been educated beyond his/her intelligence.”

“Magic's just science that we don't understand yet.”

“I don’t believe in astrology; I’m a Sagittarius and we’re skeptical.”

“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.”

“The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion.”

“Perhaps our role on this planet is not to worship God — but to create Him.”

“It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.”

“I am an optimist. Anyone interested in the future has to be otherwise he would simply shoot himself.”

“A faith that cannot survive collision with the truth is not worth many regrets.”

“It must be wonderful to be seventeen, and to know everything.”

“After their encounter on the approach to Jupiter, there would aways be a secret bond between them---not of love, but of tenderness, which is often more enduring.”

“It was the mark of a barbarian to destroy something one could not understand.”

“The more wonderful the means of communication, the more trivial, tawdry, or depressing its contents seemed to be.”

“Science is the only religion of mankind.”

“Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case, the idea is quite staggering.”

“Now I'm a scientific expert; that means I know nothing about absolutely everything.”

“One of the biggest roles of science fiction is to prepare people to accept the future without pain and to encourage a flexibility of mind. Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.”

“Clarke's First Law: 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.”

“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.”

“I will not be afraid because I understand… And understanding is happiness.”

“All human plans [are] subject to ruthless revision by Nature, or Fate, or whatever one preferred to call the powers behind the Universe.”

“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.”

“I would defend the liberty of consenting adult creationists to practice whatever intellectual perversions they like in the privacy of their own homes; but it is also necessary to protect the young and innocent.”

“Science can destroy religion by ignoring it as well as by disproving its tenets.”

“Behind every man now alive stand 30 ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living.”

“Sometimes when I'm in a bookstore or library, I am overwhelmed by all the things that I do not know. Then I am seized by a powerful desire to read all the books, one by one.”

“Never attribute to malevolence what is merely due to incompetence”

“… science fiction is something thathappen - but usually you wouldn't want it to. Fantasy is something thathappen - though often you only wish that it could.”

“Whether we are based on carbon or on silicon makes no fundamental difference; we should each be treated with appropriate respect.”