“ First the planets would be overrun, and then man would leap from the planets to the stars! For years after America had become a country, had built a tradition of her own, Europe was regarded by millions as the homeland. But as the years swept by, this had ceased to be and the Americas were a world unto themselves, owing nothing to Europe.And that was the way it would be with Earth. For centuries, for thousands of years, Earth would be the Mother Planet, the homeland for all the millions of roaming men and women who dared the gulfs of space and the strangeness of new worlds. ”
Clifford D. Simak
Biographical details
Clifford D. Simak (1904–1988), an American science fiction writer and journalist, is celebrated for his pastoral approach to the genre, blending rural settings with philosophical reflections on existence, technology, and spirituality. A three-time Hugo Award winner and Nebula Award recipient, he crafted stories centered on modest heroes, self-aware robots, and reflective journeys through time and space, as seen in City and Time and Again.
His work often contrasted the idyllic with the existential, exploring themes of human resilience, cosmic humility, and the moral implications of innovation. Simak’s legacy lies in his ability to infuse speculative fiction with quiet humanity, portraying science not as a means of control but as a reflection of the soul’s enduring questions.
Quotes by Clifford D. Simak
Clifford D. Simak,
The Shipshape Miracle
“ But this particular Ship had no concern with diamonds.What a setup, he thought. A human brain and a spaceship tied together, so closely tied together that their identities had merged. He shivered at the thought of it, for it was a gruesome thing.Although perhaps it had not meant too much to that old man who was about to die. He had traded an aged and death-marked body for many years of life. Perhaps life as a part of a space-traveling machine was better than no life at all.How many years, he wondered, had it been since that old man had translated himself into something else than human? ”
Clifford D. Simak,
The World That Couldn't Be
“ Every nerve was screamingly alert. He swung his head, searching for the slightest movement, for some shape or color that was not the shape or color of the bush or grass or ground. But there was nothing. The heat droned in the hush of afternoon. There was not a breath of moving air. But there was danger—a saw-toothed sense of danger close behind his neck."Sipar!" he called in a tense whisper, "Watch out!"The native stood motionless, unheeding, its eyeballs rolling up until there was only white, while the muscles stood out along its throat like straining ropes of steel. ”
