That's a beautiful phrase, a prayer, a way of life, a state of grace to strive for.

Yes, it is provocative, Owlbow.

Arthur C. Clarke also said something profound about "strange" but it turns out it wasn't Clarke who first said it [as Clarke himself acknowledges in this interview with "Wired" magazine in 2003 - the 25th Anniversary of "2001: A Space Odyssey"]:

I'm always paraphrasing J.B.S. Haldane: "The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it's stranger than we can imagine."

In the same interview, Arthur Clarke also said something "strange" which gives us an insight into his own mind:

Though Clarke generally despises interviews, he was excited about appearing in Wired - although he wryly insisted, after looking over the premier issue of the magazine, that "a crucial letter in the title has been transposed."

Arthur Clarke On Life
Wired, July/August 2003 [Sri Lanka]

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.03/clarke_pr.html