If such a thing had happened once, it must surely have happened many times in this galaxy of a hundred billion suns.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that extraordinary events in the universe are likely to recur, given the vastness of space and time.
Arthur C. Clarke's quote reflects on the immense scale of the universe, indicating that if a rare or remarkable event occurred once, it is plausible it has occurred multiple times throughout the cosmos. It invites contemplation about the possibilities of life and experiences in a galaxy with such a phenomenal number of stars, encouraging an appreciation for the complexity and mystery of the universe.
In practice
During a lecture about astronomy, one could use this quote to emphasize the vast possibilities in the universe.
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'.
Certainly, it may bring to light such a deeper knowledge of the structure of matter as to constitute a veritable discontinuity in the progress of science.
What we want is scientists who don't become part of the policy discussion: All they do is produce science. If someone becomes an advocate, then I won't pay as much attention to their science.
Science fiction [is] the kind of writing that prepares us for the necessary mutations brought about in society from an ever changing technological world and as a result. The mainstream hasnβt excluded SF; the mainstream has excluded itself. No one told Jules Verne he was a science fiction writer, but he invented the 20th century.
Therefore in medicine we ought to know the causes of sickness and health.
The human race may be the only intelligent beings in the galaxy.
Nuclear accidents anywhere can affect people everywhere.
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