I am a conventional science fiction author. But that said, once your work is published, it no longer belongs to you. It belongs to the readers and they will derive all sorts of interpretations.
Liu CixinRead
Perhaps in ten thousand years, the starry sky that humankind gazes upon will remain empty and silent. But perhaps tomorrow we'll wake up and find an alien spaceship the size of the Moon parked in orbit.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the vast unknowns of the universe and the potential for extraordinary discoveries.
Liu Cixin's quote contemplates the future of humanity's understanding of the universe. While the stars may seem eternal and distant, he suggests that a breakthrough in our exploration could happen unexpectedly, such as encountering an alien spacecraft. This reveals both the insignificance of human perspective against the cosmos and the awe-inspiring possibilities that lie beyond our current imagination.
Themes
UniverseDiscoveryAliensCuriosityExploration
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can serve as an inspiring thought during a science presentation about space exploration.
More from Liu Cixin
All quotes →In the century-long history of Chinese science fiction, apocalyptic themes were mostly absent. This was especially true in the period before the 1990s, when Chinese science fiction, isolated from the influence of the West, developed on its own.
Liu CixinRead
The main difficulty is finding an idea that really excites me. We live in an age when miracles are no longer miracles, and science and the future are losing their sense of mystery. For science fiction, or at least the type of science fiction I write, this development is almost fatal, but I'm still giving it all I've got.
Liu CixinRead
I'm absolutely positive about human survival. We will continue to develop our civilisation and expand not just on Earth, but also across the solar system, the galaxy, even the entire universe.
Liu CixinRead
Similar quotes
A black hole really is an object with very rich structure, just like Earth has a rich structure of mountains, valleys, oceans, and so forth. Its warped space whirls around the central singularity like air in a tornado.
Kip ThorneRead
Science does not know its debt to imagination.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
I argue that for every country to have an independent fuel cycle is the wrong way to go. Because any country which has a complete fuel cycle is a latent nuclear weapons country, in the sense that it is not far from making a nuclear weapon.
Mohamed ElbaradeiRead
It is the very strangeness of nature that makes science engrossing. That ought to be at the center of science teaching. There are more than seven-times-seven types of ambiguity in science, awaiting analysis. The poetry of Wallace Stevens is crystal-clear alongside the genetic code.
Lewis ThomasRead
Nowhere in space will we rest our eyes upon the familiar shapes of trees and plants, or any of the animals that share our world. Whatsoever life we meet will be as strange and alien as the nightmare creatures of the ocean abyss, or of the insect empire whose horrors are normally hidden from us by their microscopic scale.
Arthur C. ClarkeRead
Global warming isn't a prediction. It is happening.
James HansenRead