2001: A Space Odyssey (Space Odyssey #1)

by Arthur C. Clarke

So for every man who has ever lived, in this Universe there shines a star.

The male, female, and two infants that had mysteriously appeared before him were gorged and replete, with sleek and glossy pelts—and this was a condition of life that Moon-Watcher had never imagined. Unconsciously, he felt his own protruding ribs; the ribs of these creatures were hidden in rolls of fat. From time to time they stirred lazily, as they lolled at ease near the entrance of a cave, apparently at peace with the world. Occasionally, the big male emitted a monumental burp of contentment.

Moon-Watcher felt the first faint twinges of a new and potent emotion. It was a vague and diffuse sense of envy—of dissatisfaction with his life. He 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.

they had invented the most essential tool of all, though it could be neither seen nor touched. They had learned to speak, and so had won their first great victory over Time.

Unlike the animals, who knew only the present, Man had acquired a past; and he was beginning to grope toward a future.

The more wonderful the means of communication, the more trivial, tawdry, or depressing its contents seemed to be.

the newspapers of Utopia, he had long ago decided, would be terribly dull.

This was not art for art’s sake, but art for the sake of sanity.

After ten thousand years, Man had at last found something as exciting as war.

The time was fast approaching when Earth, like all mothers, must say farewell to her children.

It was the mark of a barbarian to destroy something one could not understand; but perhaps men were barbarians, beside the creatures who had made this thing.

The time had not yet come when Man could leave his mark upon the Solar System.

Discovery was no longer a happy ship.

But no one had ever given the slightest thought to the curious coincidence that the rings of Saturn had been born at the same time as the human race.

And because, in all the galaxy, they had found nothing more precious than Mind, they encouraged its dawning everywhere. They became farmers in the fields of stars; they sowed, and sometimes they reaped.