Rendezvous with Rama (Rama, #1)

by Arthur C. Clarke

In every earlier landing, he had known what to expect; there was always the possibility of accident, but never of surprise. With Rama, surprise was the only certainty.

Her colleagues thought this a rather restricted point of view, but at least it was a stimulating one.

if there were no hazards there would be no achievement, no sense of adventure.

the only emotion he felt was a certain remote regret for lost opportunities—

And so for years he had avoided visiting the places his lenses brought to him, because he knew that the reality could not live up to the dream.