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But only gradually have I learned that such ultimate successes are not what the present-day authorities in Britain really want. What really delights them is extreme tidiness combined with a façade of everyday competence. This of course is why Britain plunges further and further downhill with every passing year. The truth is the opposite: it is the ultimate success that really counts.

— Fred Hoyle Encounter with the Future (1965)

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More quotes by Fred Hoyle

Space isn't remote at all. It's only an hour's drive away if your car could go straight upwards.

Losing power, utterly and completely, is the most dreadful prospect that a politician can think of. It overshadows everything else.

The Black Cloud (1957)

It’s only too easy to read your own state of mind into what other people say.

The Black Cloud (1957)

The two men were mentally too dissimilar for more than a half hour of conversation between them to be possible.

The Black Cloud (1957)

All people are the same, pretty well irrespective of color, creed, or the way they happen to grunt out their language.

Encounter with the Future (1965)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Fred Hoyle (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.