Clarke Quotes & Sayings

How foolish that expectation had been! He knew now that one might as well hope to see the wind, or speculate about the true shape of fire. — Arthur C. Clarke

When we say we know something in our bones, we mean we don't know yet how we know what we know. This is what we mean by bones. — Brock Clarke

There are no captions on red-carpet photos that say, 'This girl trained for two weeks, she went on a juice diet, she has a professional hair and makeup person, and this dress was made for her.' I just wish they'd say, 'It ain't the truth.' — Emilia Clarke

Clarke shifted so she was leaning against Bellamy. He wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned back, so they were both looking up at the sky. The roar of the fire was enough to muffle the voices of everyone around them, and with their eyes tilted upward, it almost felt like they were the only two people on Earth. — Kass Morgan

I have been most industriously talking up your extraordinary powers to all my wide acquaintance,' continued Mr Drawlight. 'I have been your John the Baptist, sir, preparing the way for you! — Susanna Clarke

When I was in my teens, I thought, 'Would I like to try and work hard at being an actor, or do I want to work hard at doing something musical?' Acting won out, but I do really enjoy those moments where I get to just belt something out. — Emilia Clarke

He was now probably the world's leading authority on the greatest explorer of all time, — Arthur C. Clarke

To convey one's mood
in seventeen syllables
is very diffic — John Cooper Clarke

Then Childermass related to Mr Norrell what he had discovered about Drawlight: how he belonged to a certain breed of gentlemen, only to be met with in London, whose main occupation is the wearing of expensive and fashionable clothes; how they pass their lives in ostentatious idleness, gambling and drinking to excess and spending months at a time in Brighton and other fashionable watering places; how in recent years this breed seemed to have reached a sort of perfection in Christopher Drawlight. Even his dearest friends would have admitted that he possessed not a single good quality. — Susanna Clarke

I have great faith in optimism as a guiding principle, if only because it offers us the opportunity of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. — Arthur C. Clarke

Guns are the crutches of the impotent. — Arthur C. Clarke

This is the genius of my enemy! Lock a door against him and all that happens is that he learns first how to pick a lock and second how to build a better one against you! — Susanna Clarke

Religion is the most malevolent of all mind viruses. — Arthur C. Clarke

The room you are about to enter," the Eagle said, setting up Nicole's wheelchair, "is the largest single room in this domain. It is half a kilometer across at its widest point. Inside currently is a model of the Milky Way Galaxy. — Arthur C. Clarke

The West needs to relearn what the rest of the world has never forgotten - that there is nothing sinful in leisure as long as it does not degenerate into mere sloth. — Arthur C. Clarke

I am getting frustrated by the fact that we have been out of office for eight years. I desperately want to lead the Conservative Party to make quicker progress back into power. — Kenneth Clarke

[L]ike it or not, the right timing is an inescapable part of human endeavor and thus of politics. . . . But some activists suggest that "timing" is irrelevant in public policy and politics. In their view, it's just another "excuse" by "incrementalists," another example of their traitorous cowardice, another reason why they should be condemned and purged. . . . There is a fundamental ethical and practical difference between compromise and prudently fighting for the most good that can be gained in the face of overwhelming odds. . . . Realizing the constraints and limits of this world should guard us against unrealistic expectations of what politics can or should achieve. And yet, the examples of Wilberforce and Lincoln, among many others, demonstrate that moral purpose can be successfully pursued in politics with prudence. — Clarke D. Forsythe

Music began playing and a woman walked into the room and stood beside a small band. She was dressed in a red Irish costume that hung to her ankles and it was laced at the bodice with a black cord. After giving a nod to the band, she sang a few Irish songs. But one song seemed to stand out to Rick and he stopped eating and listened.
Sure a little bit of Heaven fell from out the sky one day and it nestled on the ocean in a spot so far away. When the angels found it, sure it looked so sweet and fair, they said, "Suppose we leave it for it looks so peaceful there."
So they sprinkled it with stardust just to make the shamrocks grow. 'Tis the only place you'll find them no matter where you go. Then they dotted it with silver to make its lakes so grand and when they had it finished, sure they called it Ireland. — Linda Weaver Clarke

Had Elijah Muhammad tried to introduce an orthodox form of Arab-oriented Islam, I doubt if he would have attracted 500 people, but he introduced a form of Islam that would communicate with the people he had to deal with. He was the king to those who had no king, and he was the messiah to those some people thought unworthy of a messiah. — John Henrik Clarke

Poverty is much more than a way of life," Jack later wrote. "It goes much farther than skin-deep. It's no tattoo that fades with time. Nor a brand that can be put out of mind except when faced. Poverty, if you've known it, is you. — Gerald Clarke

My favorite part of any project is the preparation. It's where you get to meet the people, the experts. — Jason Clarke

Real sacrifice comes from self sacrifice. — J. Richard Clarke

It was a complicated look. I remember thinking that, and I also remember thinking that you had to have known someone for a really long time to be able to look at him like that, and he had to have known you for a really long time to be able to understand it. — Brock Clarke

The opinions expressed in this book are not those of the author — Arthur C. Clarke

Fear and love might leave a man complacent, but jealousy will always get him out of the van. — Brock Clarke

Utopia was here at last: its novelty had not yet been assailed by the supreme enemy of all Utopias - boredom. — Arthur C. Clarke

They had come in secret, having an idea that Dr Greysteel, and perhaps even Mr Strange, might try to prevent them going, or else insist upon accompanying them - and they had no wish for male companionship upon this occasion.
"They will want to be talking about it," said Aunt Greysteel, "they will be trying to guess how she came to this sad condition. But what good will that do? How does that help her? — Susanna Clarke

Amelia was jumping up and down, panting and waving her hands in the air as if she were fanning a fire in her mouth ...
When Amelia finally leaned against the Jeep and sighed, Rick let out a little chuckle. I didn't know you could dance so well, sweetie. You'll have to teach me that step. What do you call it? The Habanero Shuffle? — Linda Weaver Clarke

If I hadn't learned to lay on a two-hander once in a while, I'd never have left Flin Flon. — Bobby Clarke

If he was indeed mad, his delusions were beautifully organized. — Arthur C. Clarke

I tell people, 'It's just like a cliche, but it's true: In Hollywood, dreams can come true.' — Michael Clarke Duncan

The eruption had hurled the thing out of its normal environment, deep down in the flaming atmosphere of the sun. It was a miracle that it had survived its journey through space; already it must be dying, as the forces that controlled its huge, invisible body lost their hold over the electrified gas which was the only substance it possessed. — Arthur C. Clarke

How can she let herself love him, when she's signed a contract to let him go? — Ros Clarke

The difference between machines and human beings is that human beings can be reproduced by unskilled labour. — Arthur C. Clarke

We don't sleep to sleep, dammit, any more than we eat to eat . We sleep to dream. We're amphibians. We live in two elements and we need both.
Edward Nesbit — Lindsay Clarke

Miss Pringle was not much larger than the handheld personal assistants of his own age, and usually lived, like the Old West's Colt 45, in a quick-draw holster at his waist. — Arthur C. Clarke

The phenomenon of UFO doesn't say anything about the presence of intelligence in space. It just shows how rare it is here on the earth. — Arthur C. Clarke

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

Even where there is talent, culture, knowledge, if there is not earnestness, it does not go to the root of things. — James Freeman Clarke

Man may be considered as having a twofold origin - natural, which is common and the same to all - patronymic, which belongs to the various families of which the whole human race is composed. — Adam Clarke

There is a book waiting for him upon the library table; his eyes fancy they still follow its lines of type, his head still runs upon its argument, his fingers itch to take it up again. — Susanna Clarke

Finally, I would like to assure my many Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim friends that I am sincerely happy that the religion which Chance has given you has contributed to your peace of mind (and often, as Western medical science now reluctantly admits, to your physical well-being). Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy. But it is best of all to be sane and happy. — Arthur C. Clarke

St. Leonard's Police Station DS Siobhan Clarke (pronounced "Shiv-awn") DI Derek Linford no friend to Rebus, disliked by Siobhan DCS Gill Templer officer in charge of St. Leonard's DC David Hynds a new recruit DS George "Hi-Ho" Silvers officer with both eyes on approaching pension DC Grant Hood young and unpredictable officer with a crush on Siobhan DC Phyllida Hawes tough female officer, usually based at Gayfield Square DCI Bill Pryde second in command to DCS Gill Templer The Edward Marber Murder Case Edward Marber murdered Edinburgh art dealer Cynthia Bessant friend of the — Ian Rankin

You have to do whatever jobs you can to pay the rent. — Emilia Clarke

It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value. — Arthur C. Clarke

You don't deserve Jack.
You don't deserve to sleep.
You don't deserve to live. — Cat Clarke

I like science fiction. Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick and Vonnegut, and I really like Margaret Atwood, 'The Handmaid's Tale.' And you know, so much of science fiction has to do with predicting what's to come, so I think that's really interesting. — Conor Oberst

When we trust our brother, whom we have seen, we are learning to trust God, whom we have not seen. — James Freeman Clarke

Continue to invest in your personal development. Expand your occupational horizons by constant study ... look to your present job as a stepping-stone along your career path. Take time to think. The dimensions of most jobs are constrained only by the mind of the uncreative worker. I like what one business man counseled: If at first you do succeed, try something harder!!! — J. Richard Clarke

The governess was not much liked in the village. She was too tall, too fond of books, too grave, and, a curious thing, never smiled unless there was something to smile at. — Susanna Clarke

I also believe - and hope - that politics and economics will cease to be as important in the future as they have been in the past; the time will come when most of our present controversies on these matters will seem as trivial, or as meaningless, as the theological debates in which the keenest minds of the Middle Ages dissipated their energies. Politics and economics are concerned with power and wealth, neither of which should be the primary, still less the exclusive, concern of full-grown men. — Arthur C. Clarke

Suddenly it seemed that all that had been learnt in every English childhood of the wildness of English magic might still be true, and even now on some long-forgotten paths, behind the sky, on the other side of the rain, John Uskglass might be riding still, with his company of men and fairies. Most — Susanna Clarke

I could hear the exasperation in her voice, so beautiful and familiar, but sad, too, like hearing church bells right before your funeral. — Brock Clarke

I had always been fascinated by comics, but it had taken me several weeks to make up my mind to buy 'Watchmen'; for someone on a publisher's assistant's salary, it was some quite unheard-of sum of money. — Susanna Clarke

Have a great time fulfilling one of your dreams. Love, Jax — M. Clarke

Clarke grabbed his hand, and together, they started down the staircase into the darkness. — Kass Morgan

People can criticise me all day long. It just washes off me. You might as well be talking to a wall. — Noel Clarke

it's only by not taking the human race seriously that I retain what fragments of my once considerable mental powers I still possess! — Arthur C. Clarke

When you're writing, you're creating something out of nothing ... A successful piece of writing is like doing a successful piece of magic.
[As quoted on WritersServices, 6 March 2012] — Susanna Clarke

As three laws were good enough for Newton, I have modestly decided to stop there. — Arthur C. Clarke

I have been quite put out of temper this morning and someone ought to die for it. — Susanna Clarke

Kalevala, whereas — Arthur C. Clarke

The point is, technology has empowered so many musicians, you know? — Stanley Clarke

Mr. Norrell gazed at Strange with an odd expression upon his face as though he would have been glad of a little conversation with him, but had not the least idea how to begin. — Susanna Clarke

That don't make sense."
"Of course not," he said. "It's magic. — Cassandra Rose Clarke

He argument he was conducting with his neighbor as to whether the English magician had gone mad because he was a magician, or because he was English. — Susanna Clarke

I really like sometimes to do action pictures; I get a really big kick out of doing those. — Stanley Clarke

Mr. Robinson was a polished sort of person. He was so clean and healthy and pleased about everything that he positively shone - which is only to be expected in a fairy or an angel, but is somewhat disconcerting in an attorney. — Susanna Clarke

Verse 11. (They presented unto Him gifts). The people of the east never approach the presence of kings and great personages, without a present in their hands. The custom is often noticed in the Old Testament, and still prevails in the east, and in some of the newly discovered South Sea Islands. — Adam Clarke

As they passed the giant saguaro cacti, Amelia knew they were getting close to home. They were magnificent, standing like humungous pitchforks in the middle of the desert. To her, it represented the American West...
Amelia noticed Sam in the distance. He seemed intrigued by the Teddy Bear Chollas. Sam was not originally from Arizona, so he seemed enchanted by the fuzzy little cactus.
As he reached toward it, Amelia yelled, "Stop! No! Don't touch that, Sam!"
But it was too late. The little razor sharp needles seemed to jump toward his finger... — Linda Weaver Clarke

The space elevator will be built about 50 years after everyone stops laughing. — Arthur C. Clarke

Yet, even allowing for these failings, was not St John Clarke still a person more like myself than anyone else sitting round the table? That was a sobering thought. He, too, for longer years, had existed in the imagination, even though this imagination led him (in my eyes) to a world ludicrously contrived, socially misleading, professionally nauseous. On top of that, had he not on this earlier occasion gone out of his way to speak a word of carefully hedged praise for my own work? Was that, therefore, an aspect of his critical faculty for which he should be given credit, or was it an even stronger reason for guarding against the possibility of corruption at the hands of one whose own writings could not be approved? — Anthony Powell

You can't come out of drama school and think, 'It's all going to be amazing.' You have to expect to work in a bar for at least five years and be a waitress for maybe two! — Emilia Clarke

Tell any grizzled old cutthroat a sob story about a double-cross and a broken heart and he'll eat right out of your hand. — Cassandra Rose Clarke

Is there intelligent life on Earth? Yours, — Arthur C. Clarke

And he could never understand that I could never feel OK again as long as I knew she was hurting. — Cat Clarke

You think that I am angry, but I am not. You think I do not know why you have done what you have done, but I do. You think you have put all your heart into that writing and that every one in England now understands you. What do they understand? Nothing. I understood you before you wrote a word. What you wrote, you wrote for me. For me alone. — Susanna Clarke

Once, I believed that space could
have no power over faith, just as I believed the heavens declared the glory of God's
handwork. Now I have seen that handwork, and my faith is sorely troubled. — Arthur C. Clarke

Creationism, perhaps the most pernicious of the intellectual perversions now afflicting the American public. — Arthur C. Clarke

I try to tell people to do, or advise them, anyway, is adopt conservative philosophies like hard work, preparation, perseverance, love of God, love of country, personal responsibility. Start to think for yourself and then go out and vote. And I think that once they start to do that, they will know where their vote should go. — David A. Clarke, Jr

Maybe this is how madness works. At first you're worried you're going crazy, but in the end you don't even care. You embrace it; it's the only thing you've got left. The only thing you can trust when the rest of the world has gone to shit. — Cat Clarke

Could soldiers read? Mr Norrell did not know. He turned with a look of desperate appeal to Childermass.
Childermass shrugged. — Susanna Clarke

I can't complain about the roles that have come my way. — Jason Clarke

Do Your Best Work — Malcolm X

If the prime minister really believes it, he must be the only person left who thinks that the recent bombs in London had no connection at all with his policy in Iraq. — Kenneth Clarke

When I was 20, I thought anyone in the music business over 25 is past it. Then at 30, you think anyone still doing it at 35 is ridiculous. Suddenly, you find yourself at 48 and still doing it, so I don't know what to say, really. — Vince Clarke

I think as an actor you want to keep being challenged. — Michael Clarke Duncan

Someone else is looking for him?"
"That's right, two men." Mrs. Brody softly laughed and said "They look just like those men in that alien movie. Dressed in black suits and sunglasses. They don't have much of a sense of humor though. When they came to my door, I asked them if they were seeking aliens and I assured them I wasn't one. They didn't laugh at my joke. — Linda Weaver Clarke

I trust that whoever leads the Conservative Party actually pays regard to my advice on how we should conduct ourselves and I personally will obviously support whoever eventually wins. — Kenneth Clarke

I must confess that in my teens and twenties, I loved 'Mansfield Park' rather in spite of Fanny than because of her. Like Fanny's rich, sophisticated cousins, I didn't really get her. — Susanna Clarke

Malcolm X found the language that communicated across the board, from college professor to floor sweeper, all at the same time, without demeaning the intellect of either. — John Henrik Clarke

Can a story be good only if it produces an effect? If the effect is a bad one, but intended, has the story done its job? Is it then a good story? If the story produces an effect other than the intended one, is it then a bad story? Can a story be said to produce an effect at all? Can a story actually do anything at all? — Brock Clarke

Few artists thrive in solitude and nothing is more stimulating than the conflict of minds with similar interests. — Arthur C. Clarke

If my decision is wrong, at least I will have learned something new. There is always next time. — Sylvan Clarke

It's entirely possible to get to know someone without actually seeing them in person. In fact, it's better like that because none of the superficial stuff gets in the way. You really get to know a person. And it's easier to express yourself when you're writing things down. At least it is for me. I like to order my thoughts, and delete them if they don't make any sense. You can't do that in real life. — Cat Clarke

Now I can rejoice that I knew you, rather than mourn because I lost you. — Arthur C. Clarke

The future is not to be forecast, but created. — Arthur C. Clarke

You don't realize how much you miss something till it comes back to you, and then you wonder how you went so long without it. — Cassandra Rose Clarke

When a Quebecker is interviewed for French TV, he or she is often subtitled in 'normal' French, as if the language they speak in francophone Canada is so barbarous that Parisians won't be able to understand — Stephen Clarke

But for goodness sake, Frank - forget you're an engineer, and simply enjoy the view. — Arthur C. Clarke