Isaac Asimov: Trending quotes (page 7)

“Aimless extension of knowledge, however, which is what I think you really mean by the term curiosity, is merely inefficiency. I am designed to avoid inefficiency.”

Isaac Asimov book The Caves of Steel

Source: The Caves of Steel

Knowledge , Thinking

“Violence,” came the retort, “is the last refuge of the incompetent.”

Isaac Asimov book Foundation

Variant: Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
Source: Part II, The Encyclopedists, section 5; This also appears three times in "Bridle and Saddle" which is titled "The Mayors" within Foundation. It is derived from the famous phrase by Samuel Johnson: "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel" and from the words of Lady Anne Bellamy in H. Rider Haggard's Dawn, “I do not believe in violence; it is the last resource of fools.” Asimov is usually quoted simply with "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

“It seems to me, Golan, that the advance of civilization is nothing but an exercise in the limiting of privacy.”

Isaac Asimov book Foundation’s Edge

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation’s Edge (1982), Chapter 6 “Earth” section 1, p. 100
Source: Foundation's Edge

Exercises

“You are the only one responsible for your own wants.”

Isaac Asimov book I, Robot

Source: I, Robot

“A circle has no end.”

Isaac Asimov book Second Foundation

Second Foundation

“Whenever I have endured or accomplished some difficult task -- such as watching television, going out socially or sleeping -- I always look forward to rewarding myself with the small pleasure of getting back to my typewriter and writing something.”

Isaac Asimov

Pleasure , Sleep

“There's soknowledge to be had that specialists cling to their specialties as a shield against having to know anything about anything else. They avoid being drowned.”

Isaac Asimov

“Let us assume you've made your point.”

Isaac Asimov

“Once you get it into your head that somebody is controlling events, you can interpret everything in that light and find no reasonable certainty anywhere.”

Isaac Asimov

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation’s Edge (1982), Chapter 12 “Agent” section 4, p. 226

Light

“The spell of power never quite releases its hold.”

Isaac Asimov

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Second Foundation (1953), Chapter 12 “Lord”

“We abandoned the appearance of power to preserve the essence of it.”

Isaac Asimov

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation’s Edge (1982), Chapter 20 “Conclusion” section 1, p. 408

Appearance

“I know nothing of that directly; I only know what I have been told by other young ones who couldn’t have known directly either. I want to find out the truth about them and the wanting has grown until there is more of curiosity in me than fear.”

Isaac Asimov book The Gods Themselves

Section 2, Chapter 2b, p. 104
The Gods Themselves (1972)

Truth , Fear

“There's something about a pious man such as he. He will cheerfully cut your throat if it suits him, but he will hesitate to endanger the welfare of your immaterial and problematical soul.”

Isaac Asimov

Part IV, The Traders, section 3
The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation (1951)

Soul

“[Writing] is an addiction more powerful than alcohol, than nicotine, than crack. I could not conceive of not writing.”

Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, April 1990, p.6
General sources

Alcohol

“Outside intelligences, exploring the Solar System with true impartiality, would be quite likely to enter the Sun in their records thus: Star X, spectral class G0, 4 planets plus debris.”

Isaac Asimov

"By Jove!" in View from a Height (1963); often misquoted as "Jupiter plus debris".
General sources

Star , Intelligence , Sun

“A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.”

Isaac Asimov book Runaround

"Runaround" in Astounding Science Fiction (March 1942); later published in I, Robot (1950)
The Three Laws of Robotics (1942)

Law

“I’ve lived most of my life already and I suppose I can argue myself into believing that I have no great cause to love humanity. However, only a few people have hurt me, and if I hurt everyone in return that is unconscionable usury.”

Isaac Asimov book The Gods Themselves

Section 3, Chapter 12, p. 250
The Gods Themselves (1972)

Love , Life , People , Hurt

“Consider the most famous pure dystopian tale of modern times, 1984, by George Orwell (1903-1950), published in 1948 (the same year in which Walden Two was published). I consider it an abominably poor book. It made a big hit (in my opinion) only because it rode the tidal wave of cold war sentiment in the United States.”

Isaac Asimov

"Nowhere!" Asimov's Science Fiction (September 1983)
General sources

War , Books , Time

“To Mankind
And the hope that the war against folly may someday be won, after all.”

Isaac Asimov book The Gods Themselves

Dedication, p. 5; this refers to the quotation of Friedrich Schiller from which Asimov derived the title of this novel: "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain."
The Gods Themselves (1972)

War , Hope

“Courtiers don’t take wagers against the king’s skill. There is the deadly danger of winning.”

Isaac Asimov

Part III, The Mayors, section 3
The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation (1951)