Hal Clement
American author (1922–2003)
Hal Clement (May 30, 1922 – October 29, 2003) was an American science fiction author.
Quotes
editShort fiction
editAssumption Unjustified (1946)
edit- Originally published in the October 1946 issue of Astounding. Page number from the reprint in Crossroads in Time, edited by Groff Conklin.
- It seems that these men are primitive enough to have a marked tendency toward superstition—ascribing things they don’t understand to supernatural intervention.
- p. 17
Hot Planet (1963)
edit- Originally published in the August 1963 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction. Page numbers per the reprint in Judith Merril (ed.), The 9th Annual of the Year’s Best S-F.
- I am resigned to living in a chess-type universe—few and simple rules, but infinite combinations of them. But it would be nice to know an answer sometime.
- p. 269
- If you want adventure, you made a mistake exploring space. The only space adventures I've heard of are second-hand stories built on guesswork; the people who really had them weren't around to tell about it.
- p. 270
Mission of Gravity (1954)
edit- The captain, thinking over this event afterward, realized that by his own lifelong standards he had a crew composed entirely of lunatics, with himself well to the front in degree of aberration; but he was fairly sure that this particular form of insanity was going to be useful.
- Chapter 9
- No one likes to be watched constantly by someone he can’t see.
- Chapter 11
- What’s the use of a high school education if you can’t recall it when needed later on?
- Chapter 14
- Maybe we’ve been taking nova precautions for a red dwarf.
- Chapter 15
About Clement
edit- [Clement] could imagine very alien worlds, but he could never imagine a protagonist who was not reasonably bright and open to logical persuasion.