Rama Revealed Quotes

“I will not be afraid because I understand ... And understanding is happiness.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“No group can survive, let alone thrive, unless what is good for the overall community is more important than individual freedom. Take, for example, resource allocation. How can anyone with any intelligence possibly justify, in terms of the overall community, the accumulation and hoarding of enormous material assets by a few individuals when others do not even have food, clothing, and other essentials?” In”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“who is better off, the child with a mentor who knows and tells everything or the one whose teacher helps the child find her own answers?”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“Nothing in this scene will be changed by my death, Nicole thought. There will just be one less pair of eyes to observe its splendor. And one less collection of chemicals risen to consciousness to wonder what it all means.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“In my life I have found two things of priceless worth: learning and loving. Nothing else—not fame, not power, not achievement for its own sake—can possibly have the same lasting value.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“That first Prime Monitor,” he said, “was sent by the Creator, from another dimension of the early universe, into our evolving space-time system.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“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, Rama Revealed

“everything in space-time that will later become our universe is contained in that small volume producing the awesome light.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“Both men scribbled furiously on their pads. How did they get like this? Ellie wondered. How can a laughing, curious child be transformed into such a grim and hostile adult?”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“Your society, at least what I have observed of it, seems not to understand the fundamental inconsistency between individual freedom and the common welfare.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“Archie insisted. “The fundamental laws of evolution clearly indicate that those species whose primary value is the welfare of the group will outlast those in which the individual is supreme.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“When a set of crises stressed the fledgling democracy in the paradise that had been created for the humans by the Ramans, an opportunistic tycoon seized power in the colony and began to ruthlessly suppress all opposition.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“Your society, at least what I have observed of it, seems not to understand the fundamental inconsistency between individual freedom and the common welfare. The two must be carefully balanced. No group can survive, let alone thrive, unless what is good for the overall community is more important than individual freedom. Take, for example, resource allocation. How can anyone with any intelligence possibly justify, in terms of the overall community, the accumulation and hoarding of enormous material assets by a few individuals when others do not even have food, clothing, and other essentials?”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“In the future all history will be noted as BC, before contact, and AC, after contact. For from that first moment when we knew unambiguously that simple chemicals had risen to consciousness and intelligence somewhere else in the vastness of our universe, the past history of our species became only an isolated paradigm, one small and relatively insignificant fragment in the infinite tapestry that depicts the astonishing variety of sentient life.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“The universe is in constant renewal,” she said, as much to herself as to Ellie. “Everything—individuals, planets, stars, even galaxies—has a life cycle, a death as well as a birth. Nothing lasts forever. Not even the universe itself. Change and renewal are an essential part of the overall process.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“humans who have lived through the singular experience of parenting without being irrevocably changed by the process. We all wonder, as our children grow into adults, what we have done, or not done, that has contributed to, or detracted from, the happiness of these special beings we have brought into existence. The”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“Nicole’s intuition told her not to follow the fireflies, but she said nothing.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“I don’t believe all this just happened,” Nicole said. “Not on another planet. Not anywhere. Natural evolution simply does not result in the kind of interspecies harmony we have witnessed the last two days.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“At times, when there is caring and compassion, we truly seem little lower than the angels. But more often, our greed and selfishness overwhelm our virtues and we become indistinguishable from the basest creatures from which we have evolved.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“Nicole looked around her. “Darkness everywhere,” she said, almost to herself. “And somewhere in that darkness—if the word ‘somewhere’ even has any meaning—there was energy.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“halogens,”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“Or is the meaning of life no longer 42?”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“From our point of view, human beings are astonishingly xenophobic. There are not many examples in our data base of spacefarers who are as sociologically backward as your species.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“The Eagle had stopped talking for a moment. When Nicole looked at the alien again, his mesmerizing eyes seemed to be expressing an emotion. “Besides, you are special to us. You have played a key role in this endeavor.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“For the address, Nakamura had ordered his tailors to make him a new shogun’s outfit, complete with ornamented sword and dagger. He was appearing in Japanese martial dress, he told his aides, to stress his role as the “lead warrior and protector” of the colonists.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“Since their base number system is octal, the range for the comparatives is between one and seven.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“Max was nervous long before Dr. Blue started to open what Max called the “bug jar.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed

“The Precursors taught us that each life is a finite interval, with a beginning and an end. Any individual creature, although a miracle, is not that important in the overall scheme of things. What matters, the Precursors said, is continuity and renewal. In their view each of us is immortal, not because anything related to a specific individual lives forever, but because each life becomes a critical link, either culturally or genetically or both, in the neverending chain of life.”
― gentry lee, Rama Revealed

“Invade me now, my ruthless friend, And make me cower in the dark. Remind me that I’m all alone And draw upon my face your mark. How is it that you capture me, When all my thoughts deny your force? Is it the reptile in my brain That lets your terror run its course? Baseless Fear undoes us all Despite our quest for lofty goals. We would-be Galahads don’t die, Fear just freezes all our souls. It keeps us mute when feeling love, Reminding us what we might lose. And if by chance we meet success, Fear tells us which safe route to choose. Nicole”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Rama Revealed