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Isaac Asimov: 606 quotes30 likes

“Radiation, unlike smoking, drinking, and overeating, gives no pleasure, so the possible victims object.”

As quoted in The Journal of NIH Research (1990), 2, 30
General sources

“A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.”

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

“The house was somehow very lonely at night and Dr. Darell found that the fate of the Galaxy made remarkably little difference while his daughter’s mad little life was in danger.”

Isaac Asimov

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Second Foundation (1953), Chapter 11 “Stowaway”

“It is because you yourself fear the propaganda created, after all, only by the stupidity of your own bigots.”

Isaac Asimov book Pebble in the Sky

Pebble in the Sky, chapter 4 “The Royal Road”, p. 33
Pebble in the Sky (1950)

“[In response to this question by Bill Moyers: What do you see happening to the idea of dignity to human species if this population growth continues at its present rate? ] "It's going to destroy it all. I use what I call my bathroom metaphor. If two people live in an apartment, and there are two bathrooms, then both have what I call freedom of the bathroom, go to the bathroom any time you want, and stay as long as you want to for whatever you need. And this to my way is ideal. And everyone believes in the freedom of the bathroom. It should be right there in the Constitution. But if you have 20 people in the apartment and two bathrooms, no matter how much every person believes in freedom of the bathroom, there is no such thing. You have to set up, you have to set up times for each person, you have to bang at the door, aren't you through yet, and so on. And in the same way, democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people onto the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies.”

Isaac Asimov

Interview by Bill Moyers on Bill Moyers' World Of Ideas (17 October 1988); transcript http://www.pbs.org/moyers/faithandreason/print/pdfs/woi%20asimov1.pdf (page 6) - audio (20:12) http://www.pbs.org/moyers/faithandreason/media_players/asimovwoi_audio.html <br class="br">General sources

““Is not all this an extraordinary concatenation of coincidence?”
Pelorat said, “If you list it like that—”
“List it any way you please,” said Trevize. “I don’t believe in extraordinary concatenations of coincidence.””

Isaac Asimov

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation’s Edge (1982), Chapter 14 “Forward!” section 1, p. 281

“Economics is on the side of humanity now.”

Isaac Asimov book The Currents of Space

The Currents of Space (1952)
General sources

“Plowboy: You truly feel that all the major changes in history have been caused by science and technology?
Asimov: Those that have proved permanent—the ones that affected every facet of life and made certain that mankind could never go back again—were always brought about by science and technology. In fact, the same twin "movers" were even behind the other "solely" historical changes. Why, for instance, did Martin Luther succeed, whereas other important rebels against the medieval church—like John Huss—fail? Well, Luther was successful because printing had been developed by the time he advanced his cause. So his good earthy writings were put into pamphlets and spread so far and wide that the church officials couldn't have stopped the Protestant Reformation even if they had burned Luther at the stake.
Plowboy: Today the world is changing faster than it has at any other time in history. Do you then feel that science—and scientists—are especially important now?
Asimov: I do think so, and as a result it's my opinion that anyone who can possibly introduce science to the nonscientist should do so. After all, we don't want scientists to become a priesthood. We don't want society's technological thinkers to know something that nobody else knows—to "bring down the law from Mt. Sinai"—because such a situation would lead to public fear of science and scientists. And fear, as you know, can be dangerous.
Plowboy: But scientific knowledge is becoming so incredibly vast and specialized these days that it's difficult for any individual to keep up with it all.
Asimov: Well, I don't expect everybody to be a scientist or to understand every new development. After all, there are very few Americans who know enough about football to be a referee or to call the plays … but many, many people understand the sport well enough to follow the game. It's not important that the average citizen understand science so completely that he or she could actually become involved in research, but it is very important that people be able to "follow the game" well enough to have some intelligent opinions on policy.
Every subject of worldwide importance—each question upon which the life and death of humanity depends—involves science, and people are not going to be able to exercise their democratic right to direct government policy in such areas if they don't understand what the decisions are all about.”

Isaac Asimov

Mother Earth News interview (1980)

“Such unsubtle escapism! Really, Dr. Fara, such folly smacks of genius. A lesser mind would be incapable of it.”

Isaac Asimov

Part II, The Encyclopedists, section 5
The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation (1951)

“Hypocrisy is a universal phenomenon. It ends with death, but not before.”

Isaac Asimov

"By the Numbers" (May 1973), in The Tragedy of the Moon (1973), p. 188
General sources

“It is very likely that there are many, many planets carrying life, even intelligent life, throughout the universe, because there are so many stars. By sheer chance, even if those chances are small, a great many life forms and a great many intelligences may exist.”

Isaac Asimov

Interview http://americanindian.net/asimov.html in Southwest Airlines Magazine 1979) <br class="br">General sources

““Ponyets! They sent you?”
“Pure chance,” said Ponyets, bitterly, “or the work of my own personal malevolent demon.””

Isaac Asimov

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

“It’s a poor atom blaster that won’t point both ways.”

Isaac Asimov

Part V, The Merchant Princes, section 18
The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation (1951)

“The foundation of all technology is fire.”

Isaac Asimov book Asimov's Chronology of the World

Asimov's Chronology of the World (1991), p. 11
General sources

“If you're going to write a story, avoid contemporary references. They date a story and they have no staying power.”

Isaac Asimov book Buy Jupiter and Other Stories

Buy Jupiter and Other Stories (1975), p. 134
General sources

“Surely there is no language more majestic than that of Shakespeare, Milton, and the King James Bible, and if I am to have one language that I know as only a native can know it, I consider myself unbelievably fortunate that it is English.”

Isaac Asimov book Before the Golden Age

Before the Golden Age (1974), Vol. 1, p. 5 of the 1975 Orbit edition
General sources

“To him, a stilted geometric love of arrangement was “system,” an indefatigable and feverish interest in the pettiest facets of day-to-day bureaucracy was “industry,” indecision when right was “caution,” and blind stubbornness when wrong, “determination.””

Isaac Asimov

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation and Empire (1952), Chapter 12 “Captain and Mayor”

“The history of science is full of revolutionary advances that required small insights that anyone might have had, but that, in fact, only one person did.”

Isaac Asimov

"The Three Numbers" in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (September 1974); reprinted in More Tales of the Black Widowers (1976)
General sources

“In my fiction I am careful to make everything probable and to tie up all loose ends. Real life is not hampered by such considerations.”

Isaac Asimov book Puzzles of the Black Widowers

Puzzles of the Black Widowers (1984), p. 132
General sources

“Books … hold within them the gathered wisdom of humanity, the collected knowledge of the world's thinkers, the amusement and excitement built up by the imaginations of brilliant people. Books contain humor, beauty, wit, emotion, thought, and, indeed, all of life. Life without books is empty.”

Isaac Asimov book Puzzles of the Black Widowers

Puzzles of the Black Widowers (1990), pp. 74-75
General sources