# Quote — Arthur C. Clarke, The Fountains Of Paradise

> Long ago, he had made that choice between work and life that can seldom be avoided at the highest levels of human endeavor ... Any fool could shuffle genes, and most did. But whether or not history gave him credit, few men could have achieved what he had done — and was about to do.

- Author: [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md)
- Book: [The Fountains Of Paradise](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise.md)
- Page: 208
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke#The_Fountains_of_Paradise_(1979)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md)
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise/long-ago-he-had

## More from this book

> Since women are better at producing babies, presumably Nature has given men some talent to compensate. But for the moment I can't think of it.

p. 52 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise/since-women-are.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md)

> There was no substitute for reality; one should be aware of imitations.

p. 129 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise/there-was-no-substitute.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> The fates could not possibly be so malevolent, now that he had only a few hundred meters to go.
>
> He was whistling in the dark, of course. How many aircraft had crashed at the very edge of the runway, after safely crossing an ocean? How many times had machines or muscles failed when there were only millimeters to go? Every possible piece of luck, bad as well as good, happened to somebody, somewhere. He had no right to expect any special treatment.

p. 272 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise/the-fates-could.md)

Topics: [fate](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fate.md)