Arthur Charles Clarke Quotes

Clarke's First Law - Corollary: When, however, the lay public rallies round an idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly scientists and supports that idea with great fervor and emotion - the distinguished but elderly scientists are then, after all, probably right. ~ Isaac Asimov

I first met Winston Churchill in the early summer of 1906 at a dinner party to which I went as a very young girl. Our hostess was Lady Wemyss and I remember that Arthur Balfour, George Wyndman, Hilaire Belloc and Charles Whibley were among the guests…

I found myself sitting next to this young man who seemed to me quite different from any other young man I had ever met. For a long time he seemed sunk in abstraction. Then he appeared to become suddenly aware of my existence. He turned on me a lowering gaze and asked me abruptly how old I was. I replied that I was nineteen. "And I," he said despairingly, "am thirty-two already. Younger than anyone else who counts, though, "he added, as if to comfort himself. Then savagely: "Curse ruthless time! Curse our mortality. How cruelly short is this allotted span for all we must cram into it!" And he burst forth into an eloquent diatribe on the shortness of human life, the immensity of possible human accomplishment - a theme so well exploited by the poets, prophets, and philosophers of all ages that it might seem difficult to invest it with new and startling significance. Yet for me he did so, in a torrent of magnificent language which appeared to be both effortless and inexhaustible and ended up with the words I shall always remember: "We are all worms. But I do believe that I am a glow worm."

By this time I was convinced of it - and my conviction remained unshaken throughout the years that followed. Later he asked ~ Violet Bonham Carter

Arthur Clennam came to a squeezed house, with a ramshackle bowed front, little dingy windows, and a little dark area like a damp waistcoat-pocket, which he found to be number twenty-four, Mews Street, Grosvenor Square. ~ Charles Dickens

And here before me stands a marvelously groomed little man who is pinning a hero's medal on me because some of his forebears were Alfred the Great and Charles the First, and even King Arthur, for anything I knew to the contrary. But I shouldn't be surprised if inside he feels as puzzled about the fate that brings him here as I. we are public icons, we two: he an icon of kingship, and I an icon of heroism, unreal yet very necessary; we have obligations above what is merely personal, and to let personal feelings obscure the obligations would be failing in one's duty.

This was clearer still afterward, at lunch at the Savoy....; they all seemed to accept me as a genuine hero, and I did my best to behave decently, neither believing in it too obviously, nor yet protesting that I was just a simple chap who had done his duty when he saw it--a pose that has always disgusted me. Ever since, I have tried to think charitably of people in prominent positions of one kind or another. We cast them in roles, and it is only right to consider them as players, without trying to discredit them with knowledge of their off-stage life--unless they drag it into the middle of the stage themselves. ~ Robertson Davies

It has often been noted that three major revolutions in thought have threatened the idea of human centrality. First, Copernicus demonstrated that Earth was not the center about which all celestial bodies revolved. Next, Darwin showed us that we were not central in the chain of life but, like all other creatures, had evolved from other life-forms. Third, Freud demonstrated that we are not masters in our own house-that much of our behavior is governed by forced outside of our consciousness. There is no doubt that Freud's unacknowledged co-revolutionary was Arthur Schopenhauer, who, long before Freud's birth, had posited that we are governed by deep biological forced and then delude ourselves into thinking that we consciously choose our activities. ~ Irvin D. Yalom

The chronological list of rulers differs on different lists, some lists do not include known kings, and some include kings who probably were mythological - as if a tally of English rulers matter-of-factly included King Arthur and his father, Uther Pendragon. The ~ Charles C. Mann

The fact is, we're looking for a very small number of very evil needles in a very large haystack, which is the city of London. ~ Charles Clarke

There was a moment, however, when the King and I were looking directly into each other's eyes, and in that instant I had a revelation that takes much longer to explain than to experience. Here am I, I reflected, being decorated as a hero, and in the eyes of everybody here I am indeed a hero; but I know that my heroic act was rather a dirty job I did when I was dreadfully frightened; I could just as easily have muddled it and been ingloriously killed. But it doesn't much matter, because people seem to need heroes; so long as I don't lose sight of the truth, it might as well be me as anyone else. And here before me stands a marvellously groomed little man who is pinning a hero's medal on me because some of his forebears were Alfred the Great, and Charles the First, and even King Arthur, for anything I know to the contrary. But I shouldn't be surprised if inside he feels as puzzled about the fate that brings him here as I. ~ Robertson Davies

I don't mind there being some medievalists around for ornamental purposes, but there is no reason for the State to pay for them. ~ Charles Clarke

One of my passions is that children enjoy their time at school - and reading for pleasure can be an important part of that. ~ Charles Clarke

We can all take responsibility for helping to bring about change, and keeping our friends and colleagues safe from domestic violence ~ Charles Clarke

I am not in any way opposed to medieval studies (or for that matter Latin). ~ Charles Clarke

I was at a book convention, in a cab. On one side of me was Arthur Schlesinger; on the other side was William Manchester - real heavyweights. All they were doing was asking me about Charles Manson. The only thing that enables me not to be bored is the people talking about it - they're so interested. ~ Vincent Bugliosi

...the history of man is but a history of difficulties overcome – of mysteries made plain...and that Progress, incessant and continued, is the great law of the human race'
Dr Henry George Charles Clarke, 1847.
Quoted in Champion of the Quarterdeck (2017) ~ Dr Henry George Charles Clarke

Let those who have never seen the inhumanity of man to man not think that soft words and examples in disarmament will do anything to prevent domination by the strong. ~ Arthur Charles

Every fop and fool in London has been sniffing after her." Having said that, Jason returned his attention for the report. "Go ahead and read off the names, if you must."
Frowning in surprise at Jason's dismissive attitude, Charles took the seat across the desk from him and put on his spectacles. "First, there is young Lord Crowley, who has already asked my permission to court her."
"No. Too impulsive," Jason decreed flatly.
"What makes you say so?" Charles said with a bewildered look.
"Crowley doesn't know Victoria well enough to want to 'court' her, as you so quaintly phrased it."
"Don't be ridiculous. The first four men on this list have already asked my permission to do the same thing- providing, of course, that your claim on her is not unbreakable."
"No, to all those four men- for the same reason," Jason said curtly, leaning back in his chair, absorbed in the report in his hand. Who's next?"
"Crowley's friend, Lord Wiltshire."
"Too young. Who's next?"
"Arthur Landcaster."
"Too short," Jason said cryptically. "Next?"
"William Rogers," Charles shot back in a challenging voice, "and he's tall, conservative, mature, intelligent, and handsome. He's also the heir to one of the finest estates in England. I think he would do very well for Victoria."
"No."
"No?" Charles burst out. "Why not?"
"I don't like the way Roger sits a horse."
"You don't like_" Charles bit out in angry disbelief; then ~ Judith McNaught

Charles Pierce, Bea Arthur, and I were like a terrible little trio. ~ Millicent Martin

Part of the problem is that he lacks confidence. He is nervous ~ Charles Clarke

But it doesn't stop at school. We can all enjoy books throughout our lives - as I certainly continue to do. ~ Charles Clarke

All this "confusion" came to an end twenty years after the Royal Visit, when two Bohemian brothers, claiming to be the illegitimate grandsons of Prince Charlie himself, appeared on the scene with their own tartan pattern book, portentously titled Vestiarum Scoticum. James and Charles Sobieski Stuart, as they called themselves, had selected seventy-five different setts, each linked to a specific clan, from a sixteenth-century manuscript they claimed had once belonged to Mary Queen of Scots's father confessor - although they could never quite produce the manuscript when others asked to see it. ~ Arthur Herman

Hitler did not know it, but Arthur was on his way! ~ Arthur Charles Evans

When the Quaker Penn kept his hat on in the royal presence, Charles (King Charles II) politely removed his, explaining that it was the custom in that place for only one person at a time to remain covered. ~ Arthur Bryant

THE ADVENTURE OF CHARLES AUGUSTUS MILVERTON ~ Arthur Conan Doyle

She sat the sister of Arthur, the wife of Lot
four sons got by him, and one not. ~ Charles Williams

When I was able to go to school in my early years, my third grade teacher, Ms. Harris, convinced me that one day I would be a writer. I heard her, but I knew that I had to leave Georgia, and unlike my friend Ray Charles, I did not go around with 'Georgia on My Mind.' ~ John Henrik Clarke

Yes is the answer to that question. I've enjoyed being in government ... if it would be useful for me to serve I would like to do that. [saying he would like to work for Gordon Brown despite his previous opinions of him!] ~ Charles Clarke

What an odd thing it is to see an entire species
billions of people
playing with, listening to meaningless tonal patterns, occupied and preoccupied for much of their time by what they call 'music.' (
The Overlords, from Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End) ~ Oliver Sacks

The road of negative thinking gets dark, very fast. Turn around, quickly, before the light - your hope,
vanishes. ~ Charles F. Glassman

It would seem as if there never was a book written, or a story told, expressly with the object of keeping boys on shore, which did not lure and charm them to the ocean, as a matter of course. ~ Charles Dickens

As the war on terrorism spreads and prolongs, the fruits of ending the threat of terrorism around the world will be tempered with a whole new series of problems to be addressed and resolved. ~ Charles Bass

We both insist on a lot of time being available almost every day to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. We read and think. So Warren and I do more reading and thinking and less doing than most people in business. ~ Charles T. Munger

When you are at one with the world, you often find that the thing you seek is seeking you. ~ Charles F. Haanel

I don't believe in welfare. ~ Charles Evers

Were we as eloquent as angels we still would please people much more by listening rather than talking. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

That is, we believed, the supreme duty of the parent, who only was permitted to claim in some degree the priestly office and function, since it is his creative and protecting power which alone approaches the solemn function of Deity. ~ Charles Eastman

Optimism is not only a false but also a pernicious doctrine, for it presents life as a desirable state and man's happiness as its aim and object. Starting from this, everyone then believes he has the most legitimate claim to happiness and enjoyment. If, as usually happens, these do not fall to his lot, he believes that he suffers an injustice, in fact that he misses the whole point of his existence. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

Winners take the action that others won't. ~ James Arthur Ray

Know thyself' is a highly overrated piece of wisdom. As for knowing the self of others, forget it. Know what they do and judge them by their works. ~ Charles Krauthammer

It's linkage I'm talking about, and harmonies and structures, And all the various things that lock our wrists to the past. ~ Charles Wright

The terrible announcement that the baby had been taken in the act of putting a doll's frying-pan into his mouth, and was more than suspected of having swallowed a fictitious turkey, glued on a wooden platter! The immense relief of finding this a false alarm! The joy, and gratitude, and ecstasy! ~ Charles Dickens

Music is the chalk to the blackboard of life. Without it everything is a blank slate ~ Ray Charles

I had also read somewhere that if a man didn't truly believe or understand what he was espousing, somehow he could do a more convincing job ~ Charles Bukowski

America is divided by economics, and we as Americans, we've got to do a better job of supporting poor people. ~ Charles Barkley

We start, then, with nothing, pure zero. But this is not the nothing of negation. For not means other than, and other is merely a synonym of the ordinal numeral second. As such it implies a first; while the present pure zero is prior to every first. The nothing of negation is the nothing of death, which comes second to, or after, everything. But this pure zero is the nothing of not having been born. There is no individual thing, no compulsion, outward nor inward, no law. It is the germinal nothing, in which the whole universe is involved or foreshadowed. As such, it is absolutely undefined and unlimited possibility
boundless possibility. There is no compulsion and no law. It is boundless freedom. ~ Charles Sanders Peirce

The fear really hits you. That's what you feel first. And then it's the anger and frustration. Part of the problem is how little we understand about the ultimate betrayal of the body when it rebels against itself. ~ Charles Bronson

We spend a good part of our lives trying desperately to convince ourselves as well as everybody else that we know more than we really do. ~ Charles Osgood