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Quotes of the Day for 16 December 2004 - Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur Charles Clarke was born at Minehead, Somerset, England, on this day in 1917. In his youth he enjoyed stargazing and reading old American science fiction magazines that made their way to England as ballast in returning freighters. He served as a radar specialist with the RAF during WW II and contributed to the system that allowed the RAF's success in the Battle of Britain. He is best known for his science fiction, including the film "2001: A Space Odyssey", but he is a serious scientist as well. His concept that satellites in geosynchronous orbit could aide in communications has changed the world, your satellite TV signal comes from a transponder parked in what is now knows as the Clarke Orbit. He has lived in Sri Lanka since 1956 and has been wheelchair bound since 1988, but he is still active in education and space exploration.

New ideas pass through three periods: 1) It can't be done. 2) It probably can be done, but it's not worth doing. 3) I knew it was a good idea all along!

Any teacher that can be replaced by a machine should be!

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.

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

Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.

The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.
     - All from Arthur C. Clarke

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