Arthur C. Clarke
1917–2008 · British science fiction writer, inventor, and futurist
Topics: learning, creativity, software engineering, programming
Anything that is theoretically possible will be achieved in practice, no matter what the technical difficulties are, if it is desired greatly enough.
— Arthur C. ClarkeThis project was no longer mathematics; it was engineering.
— Arthur C. ClarkeThere are some things that no amount of pure intelligence can anticipate, but which can only be learned by bitter experience.
— Arthur C. ClarkeClarke'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.
— Arthur C. ClarkeWe cannot predict the new forces, powers, and discoveries that will be disclosed to us when we reach the other planets and set up new laboratories in space. They are as much beyond our vision today as fire or electricity would be beyond the imagination of a fish.
— Arthur C. ClarkeA single test which proves some piece of theory wrong is more valuable than a hundred tests showing that idea might be true.
— Arthur C. ClarkeHe was suddenly struck by an idea so brilliant that he was quite sure it could not possibly work.
— Arthur C. ClarkeClarke's Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
— Arthur C. ClarkeClarke'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. ClarkeAny teacher that can be replaced by a machine should be!
— Arthur C. ClarkeIf 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.
— Arthur C. ClarkeIf the artist did not know his goal, even the most miraculous of tools could not find it for him.
— Arthur C. ClarkeI am afraid that this chapter will amply demonstrate the truth of Clarke's 69th Law, viz., "Reading computer manuals without the hardware is as frustrating as reading sex manuals without the software." In both cases the cure is simple though usually very expensive.
— Arthur C. Clarke