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Isaac Asimov: 606 quotes30 likes

“It seems an uncommonly woundabout and hopelessly wigmawolish method of getting anywheahs.”

Part II, The Encyclopedists, section 4
The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation (1951)

“You wait for the war to happen like vultures. If you want to help, prevent the war. Don't save the remnants. Save them all.”

Isaac Asimov book The Gentle Vultures

"The Gentle Vultures" in Super-Science Fiction (December 1957)
General sources

“Milton Ashe is not the type to marry a head of hair and a pair of eyes.”

Isaac Asimov book I, Robot

“Liar!”, p. 89
I, Robot (1950)

“If you were to insist I was a robot, you might not consider me capable of love in some mystic human sense, but you would not be able to distinguish my reactions from that which you would call love — so what difference would it make?”

Isaac Asimov

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation’s Edge (1982), Chapter 20 “Conclusion” section 4, p. 420

“I recognize the necessity of animal experiments with my mind but not with my heart.”

Isaac Asimov

"Doctor, Doctor, Cut My Throat" (August 1972), in The Tragedy of the Moon (1973), p. 153
General sources

“It was easy to cover up ignorance by the mystical word “intuition.””

Isaac Asimov

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation’s Edge (1982), Chapter 18 “Collision” section 4, p. 377

“Asimov: Well, I liked Star Wars. I thought Battlestar Galactica was such a close imitation of Star Wars, emphasizing the less attractive portions, that I was a little impatient with it.”

Isaac Asimov

An Interview with Isaac Asimov (1979)

“Titles are an important part of a story and I take considerable care in choosing one. In fact, I cannot start a story until I have chosen a title.”

Isaac Asimov book Banquets of the Black Widowers

Banquets of the Black Widowers (1984), p. 27
General sources

“Tritt listened placidly, clearly understanding nothing, but content to be listening; while Odeen, transmitting nothing, was as clearly content to be lecturing.”

Isaac Asimov book The Gods Themselves

Section 2 “...the gods themselves...”, Chapter 1b, p. 82
The Gods Themselves (1972)

“Why, Stephen, if I am right, it means that the Machine is conducting our future for us not only simply in direct answer to our direct questions, but in general answer to the world situation and to human psychology as a whole. And to know that may make us unhappy and may hurt our pride. The Machine cannot, must not, make us unhappy.
"Stephen, how do we know what the ultimate good of Humanity will entail? We haven't at our disposal the infinite factors that the Machine has at its! Perhaps, to give you a not unfamiliar example, our entire technical civilization has created more unhappiness and misery than it has removed. Perhaps an agrarian or pastoral civilization, with less culture and less people would be better. If so, the Machines must move in that direction, preferably without telling us, since in our ignorant prejudices we only know that what we are used to, is good—and we would then fight change. Or perhaps a complete urbanization, or a completely caste-ridden society, or complete anarchy, is the answer. We don't know. Only the Machines know, and they are going there and taking us with them."
"But you are telling me, Susan, that the 'Society for Humanity' is right; and that Mankind has lost its own say in its future."
"It never had any, really. It was always at the mercy of economic and sociological forces it did not understand—at the whims of climate, and the fortunes of war. Now the Machines understand them; and no one can stop them, since the Machines will deal with them as they are dealing with the Society,—having, as they do, the greatest of weapons at their disposal, the absolute control of our economy."
"How horrible!”

Isaac Asimov book I, Robot

"Perhaps how wonderful! Think, that for all time, all conflicts are finally evitable. Only the Machines, from now on, are inevitable!"
“The Evitable Conflict”, p. 192
I, Robot (1950)

“Korell is that frequent phenomenon in history: the republic whose ruler has every attribute of the absolute monarch but the name. It therefore enjoyed the usual despotism unrestrained even by those two moderating influences in the legitimate monarchies: regal “honor” and court etiquette.”

Isaac Asimov

Part V, The Merchant Princes, section 4
The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation (1951)

“Where any answer is possible, all answers are meaningless.”

Isaac Asimov book The Road to Infinity

The Road to Infinity (1979), p. 170
General sources

“All life is nucleic acid; the rest is commentary”

Isaac Asimov book The Relativity of Wrong

"The Relativity of Wrong" (1988) - "Beginning with Bone" (May 1987)
General sources

“There is more to a science fiction story than the science it contains. There is also the story.”

Isaac Asimov

Robot Dreams (1986), introduction
General sources

“The military mind remains unparalleled as a vehicle of creative stupidity.”

Isaac Asimov book In Memory Yet Green

In Memory Yet Green (1979), p. 461
General sources

“Asimov: Science fiction always bases its future visions on changes in the levels of science and technology. And the reason for that consistency is simply that—in reality—all other changes throughout history have been irrelevant and trivial. For example, what difference did it make to the people of the ancient world that Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire? Obviously, that event made some difference to a lot of individuals. But if you look at humanity in general, you'll see that life went on pretty much as it had before the conquest.
On the other hand, consider the changes that were made in people's daily lives by the development of agriculture or the mariner's compass… and by the invention of gunpowder or printing. Better yet, look at recent history and ask yourself, "What difference would it have made if Hitler had won World War II?" Of course, such a victory would have made a great difference to many people. It would have resulted in much horror, anguish, and pain. I myself would probably not have survived.
But Hitler would have died eventually, and the effects of his victory would gradually have washed out and become insignificant—in terms of real change—when compared to such advances as the actual working out of nuclear power, the advent of television, or the invention of the jet plane.”

Isaac Asimov

Mother Earth News interview (1980)

“Weisinger, a couple of years ago, made up the following story: "Isaac Asimov was asked how Superman could fly faster than the speed of light, which was supposed to be an absolute limit. To this Asimov replied, 'That the speed of light is a limit is a theory; that Superman can travel faster than light is a fact.'"
I assure you it never happened and I never said it, but it will be repeated, I am quite certain, indefinitely, and it will probably be found in Bartlett's quotations a century from now, attributed to me, after all my writings have been forgotten.”

Isaac Asimov

"Science Fiction, 1938" Nebula Winners 14 (1980) edited by Frederick J. Pohl, p. 97
General sources

“I believe that only scientists can understand the universe. It is not so much that I have confidence in scientists being right, but that I have so much in nonscientists being wrong.”

Isaac Asimov

Quasar, Quasar, Burning Bright (1978), p. 235
General sources

“I suppose he’s entitled to his opinion, but I don’t suppose it very hard.”

Isaac Asimov

“Seven Steps to Grand Master” in Nebula Awards 22 (1988), edited by George Zebrowski
General sources

“I wouldn't give an astrologer the time of day.”

Isaac Asimov book In Memory Yet Green

In Memory Yet Green (Avon Books, 1979), p. 18
General sources