A Quote by Arthur C. Clarke

Death focuses the mind on the things that really matter: why are we here, and what should we do?

Arthur C. Clarke

Quote Topics

Death Matter Mind Really Should Things Why

Quote Author

Arthur C. Clarke
English - Writer
December 16, 1917 - March 19, 2008

A woman's mind focuses on feelings, while a man's mind focuses on problem-solving.

Koena Mitra

Why produce even females? Why should there be future generations? What is their purpose? When aging and death are eliminated, why continue to reproduce? Why should we care what happens when we're dead? Why should we care that there is no younger generation to succeed us?

Valerie Solanas

We should treat each other better. Why in the hell would you still have racism? This ancient, moronic hatred? Why does our foreign policy have to always involve so much death and so much death of innocent people as a matter of course, to the point to where no one bothers to say anything. I guess a lot of people don't want to move forward. It's frustrating at times.

Henry Rollins

Why should I fear death? If I am, then death is not. If Death is, then I am not. Why should I fear that which can only exist when I do not? Long time men lay oppressed with slavish fear. Religious tyranny did domineer. At length the mighty one of Greece Began to assent the liberty of man.

Epicurus

Anything that ends with death isn't really mind, just the things that pass through a mind.

Frederick Lenz

Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is, I am not. Why should I fear that which can only exist when I do not?

Epicurus

The End of the Affair is a good movie because it about things, things that really matter. Love, sex, death. Have you ever seen romance?

Stephen Rea

When you're on the bus or subway or in your car, why busy your mind with all the garbage of advertisements? Why fill your mind with television and radio? Somehow you have to decide what your mind will receive. I don't mean you shouldn't ever go to movies or watch television, but control what enters your mind and heart. It's not just a question of pushing bad things out but also a question of holding on to something really good.

Henri Nouwen

Noir focuses on the criminal mind, not a whodunit: more why they did it and will they get away with it. The abnormal psychology is what fascinates me rather than the puzzle-solving aspect.

Allan Guthrie

The mind in its foolishness thinks that it is working in this body. Why should I be bound by one system of nerves, and put the Ego only in one body, if the mind is omnipresent? There is no reason why I should.[Source] The root of that degeneration is egotism - to think that one is just as great as any other, indeed!

Swami Vivekananda

Why should I live? Why should I do anything? Is there in life any purpose which the inevitable death that awaits me does not undo and destroy?

Leo Tolstoy

Some people think God should in some way come to you and assist you, should answer your prayers. Why? It exists in perfect ecstasy beyond the dualistic consciousness. It's totally oblivious to you. It has no interest in your life or your death - it doesn't matter.

Frederick Lenz

I like to joke that you usually write more books before death than after death, so that's why I'm doing it. But really, I remain engaged with ideas. There are so many things happening that turn me on and I just want to examine them.

T.C. Boyle

Life is boring. People are vengeful. Good things always end. We do so many things and we don’t know why, and if we do find out why, it’s decades later and knowing why doesn’t matter any more.

Douglas Coupland

Why do we cling to life and why are we afraid of death? You may not have thought about it. The reason why we cling so much to life and why we are afraid of death is just inconceivable. We cling to life so much because we do not know how to live. We cling to life so much because really we are not alive. And time is passing and death is coming nearer and nearer. And we are afraid that death is coming near and we have not lived yet.