Skip to content

It is not my duty as an historian to predict the future, only to observe and interpret the past. But its lesson is clear enough; we have lived too long out of contact with reality, and now the time has come to rebuild our lives.

— Arthur C. Clarke The City and the Stars (1956)

Another quote →

Topics

Future

More quotes by Arthur C. Clarke

Space can be mapped and crossed and occupied without definable limit; but it can never be conquered.

We'll Never Conquer Space (1960)

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

Credo (1991)

Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal.

Maelstrom II (1965)

I don't believe in God but I'm very interested in her.

Multiple Intelligences in Practice : Enhancing Self-esteem and Learning in the Classroom (2006)

As our own species is in the process of proving, one cannot have superior science and inferior morals. The combination is unstable and self-destroying.

Voices from the Sky : Previews of the Coming Space Age (1967)

All Arthur C. Clarke quotes →

You may also like

A generation which ignores history has no past —and no future.

Robert A. Heinlein Time Enough for Love (1973)

From now on, everything in life will appear blurry to me. What’s the point of wiping my glasses when my vision has already left me?"

Sanu Sharma

You can never plan the future by the past.

Edmund Burke A Letter to a Member of the National Assembly (1791)

If we don’t care about our past we can’t have very much hope for our future.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Attribution

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