I want to be remembered most as a writer - one who entertained readers, and, hopefully, stretched their imagination as well.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a desire for legacy as a writer who captivates and inspires creativity in readers.
Arthur C. Clarke's quote reflects his aspiration to be remembered for his contributions to literature, particularly for the way in which he entertained his audience and stimulated their imagination. This emphasizes the profound impact that writing can have on individuals, encouraging readers to think beyond their usual boundaries and explore new ideas and possibilities.
In practice
During a literary conference, this quote can be used to inspire aspiring writers.
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.
As our own species is in the process of proving, one cannot have superior science and inferior morals. The combination is unstable and self-destroying.
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.
The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.
It was the mark of a barbarian to destroy something one could not understand.
My favorite definition of an intellectual: 'Someone who has been educated beyond his/her intelligence'.
I think the moment you start trying to please a fan base is when you start going downhill. I'm going to always, always write about what I want, even if it doesn't necessarily cater to most of them.
The job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer.
I've gradually realised that what I do best is universes. And I shouldn't be afraid of that.
The experimental poetry thing is not my thing. It's a programme of the avant-garde: basically a refusal of the kind of poetry I write.
All the translations of a poem in all possible languages may add nuance to nuance and, by a kind of mutual retouching, by correcting one another, may give an increasingly faithful picture of the poem they translate, yet they will never give the inner meaning of the original.
I am not retiring. Writers don't retire. Writers never stop writing.
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