Isaac Asimov: Quotes about life

Isaac Asimov was American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction and popular science. Explore interesting quotes on life.
Isaac Asimov: 606 quotes30 likes

“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

“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

“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)

“Science is a systematic method for studying and working out those generalizations that seem to describe the behavior of the universe. It could exist as a purely intellectual game that would never affect the practical life of human beings either for good or evil, and that was very nearly the case in ancient Greece, for instance. Technology is the application of scientific findings to the tools of everyday life, and that application can be wise or unwise, useful or harmful. Very often, those who govern technological decisions are not scientists and know little about science.”

Isaac Asimov

"By the Numbers" (May 1973), in The Tragedy of the Moon (1973), p. 190
General sources

“Plowboy: In your opinion, what are mankind's prospects for the near future?
Asimov: To tell the truth, I don't think the odds are very good that we can solve our immediate problems. I think the chances that civilization will survive more than another 30 years—that it will still be flourishing in 2010—are less than 50 percent.
Plowboy: What sort of disaster do you foresee?
Asimov: I imagine that as population continues to increase—and as the available resources decrease—there will be less energy and food, so we'll all enter a stage of scrounging. The average person's only concerns will be where he or she can get the next meal, the next cigarette, the next means of transportation. In such a universal scramble, the Earth will be just plain desolated, because everyone will be striving merely to survive regardless of the cost to the environment. Put it this way: If I have to choose between saving myself and saving a tree, I'm going to choose me.
Terrorism will also become a way of life in a world marked by severe shortages. Finally, some government will be bound to decide that the only way to get what its people need is to destroy another nation and take its goods … by pushing the nuclear button.
And this absolute chaos is going to develop—even if nobody wants nuclear war and even if everybody sincerely wants peace and social justice—if the number of mouths to feed continues to grow. Nothing will be able to stand up against the pressure of the whole of humankind simply trying to stay alive!”

Isaac Asimov

Mother Earth News interview (1980)

“Religion is more conservative than any other aspect of human life.”

Isaac Asimov

The Near East (1968), p. 14
General sources

“This - this - was my life's work. My past - humanity's future. Foundation. So beatiful. So alive. And nothing can...Dors!”

Isaac Asimov book Forward the Foundation

The Foundation series (1951–1993), Forward the Foundation (1993)
Source: Part 5 "Epilogue", Hari Seldon's last words

“To us, all life is a series of accidents to be met with improvisations. To them, all life is purposive and should be met with precalculation.”

Isaac Asimov book Second Foundation

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Second Foundation (1953), Chapter 16 "Beginning of War"

“The same man who could not find it in his conscience to curb his curiosity into the nuclear studies that might someday kill half of Earth would risk his life to save that of an unimportant felllow man.”

Isaac Asimov book Pebble in the Sky

Source: Empire novels (1950–1952), Pebble in the Sky (1950), Chapter 1 "Between One Footsep and the Next" (p. 6)