Arthur C. Clarke

Moon-Watcher had no idea of its cause, still less of its cure; but discontent had come into his soul, and he had taken one small step toward humanity.

Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living. Since the dawn of time, roughly a hundred billion human beings have walked the planet Earth. Now this is an interesting number, for by a curious coincidence there are approximately a hundred billion stars in our local universe, the Milky Way. So for every man who has ever lived, in this Universe there shines a star.

So here, Floyd told himself, is the first generation of the Spaceborne; there would be more of them in the years to come. Though there was sadness in this thought, there was also a great hope.

When Earth was tamed and tranquil, and perhaps a little tired, there would still be scope for those who loved freedom, for the tough pioneers, the restless adventurers…The time was fast approaching when Earth, like all mothers, must say farewell to her children.

They had learned to speak, and so had won their first great victory over Time. Now the knowledge of one generation could be handed on to the next. Unlike the animals, who knew only the present, Man had acquired a past; and he was beginning to grope toward a future.

"All political problems," Karellen had once told Stormgren, "can be solved by the correct application of power"

A well-stocked mind is safe from boredom.

It had been the Golden Age. But gold was also the color of sunset, of autumn.

...no one of intelligence resents the inevitable.

Crime had practically vanished. It had become unnecessary and impossible. When no one lacks anything there is no point in stealing.

Few artists thrive in solitude, and nothing is more stimulating than the conflict of minds with similar interests.

Western man had relearned-what the rest of the world had never forgotten-that there was nothing sinful in leisure as long as it did not degenerate into mere sloth.

Evil men could be destroyed, but nothing could be done with good men who were deluded.