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1 " He had sometimes wondered if the real reason why men sought danger was that only thus could they find the companionship and solidarity which they unconsciously craved. "
― Arthur C. Clarke , A Fall of Moondust
2 " After the struggle for sheer existence, they had no energy left for a civilization. "
3 " Tom hated to admit defeat, even in matters far less important than this. He believed that all problems could be solved if they were tackled in the right way, with the right equipment. This was a challenge to his scientific ingenuity; the fact that there were many lives involved was immaterial. Dr. Tom Lawson had no great use for human beings, but he did respect the Universe. This was a private fight between him and It. "
4 " No electronic computer can match the human brain at associating apparently irrelevant facts. "
5 " The knowledge that [he] had passed a loveless, institutionalized childhood and had escaped from his origins by prodigies of pure intellect, at the cost of all other human qualities, helped one to understand him—but not to like him. "
6 " There could be no ghosts upon a world that had never known life. "
7 " The mind has many watchdogs; sometimes they bark unnecessarily, but a wise man never ignores their warning. "
8 " They no longer formed a single group, united in the common cause of survival. Now their lives had diverged again into a score of independent aims and ambitions. Humanity had swallowed them up once more, and the ocean swallows a raindrop. "
9 " The ladies were quite uninterested; either because they did not care for mathematics, or preferred to ignore birthdays. "
10 " They no longer formed a single group, united in the common cause of survival. Now their lives had diverged into a score of independent aims and ambitions. Humanity had swallowed them up once more, as the ocean swallows a raindrop. "
11 " Dr. Tom Lawson, so Chief Engineer Lawrence had decided, was an exception to the old saying, “To know all is to forgive all.” The knowledge that the astronomer has passed a loveless, institutionalised childhood and had escaped from his origins by prodigies of pure intellect, at the cost of all other human qualities helped one to understand him—but not to like him. It was singular bad luck, thought Lawrence, that he was the only scientist within three hundred thousand kilometres who happened to have an infra-red detector, and knew how to use it. "
12 " They no longer formed a single group, united in the common cause of survival. Now their lives had diverged again into a score of independent aims and ambitions. Humanity had swallowed them up once more, as the ocean swallows a rain-drop. "
13 " It was a nuisance having to learn Morse—in this age, it seemed such an anachronism, and many were the bitter protests among pilots and space-engineers at the waste of effort. In your whole lifetime, you might need it only once. But that was the point. You would really need it then. "
