“A fire eater must eat fire even if he has to kindle it himself.”

— Isaac Asimov , book Foundation

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation (1951), Part III, The Mayors, section 9

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Jan. 3, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "A fire eater must eat fire even if he has to kindle it himself." by Isaac Asimov?

Isaac Asimov 303

American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston Uni… 1920–1992

Related quotes

“Electrical fire and the fire of greed kindle economies.”

B. W. Powe (1955) Canadian writer

Interlude, p. 75
Towards a Canada of Light (2006)
Context: Electrical fire and the fire of greed kindle economies. In that flux, nations become digitized commodities on stock-exchange floors and on investors' rating screens. A country becomes a product to be rated for its obedience to paying of deficits and debts.

“Secondly, he must cleave to God within by devoted intention and love, just like a kindled, blazing fire that can no longer be extinguished. During the time that he feels himself to be in this state, he can contemplate.”

John Ruysbroeck (1293–1381) Flemish mystic

The Spiritual Espousals (c. 1340)

“The symbolism of meat-eating is never neutral. To himself, the meat-eater seems to be eating life. To the vegetarian, he seems to be eating death.”

Mary Midgley (1919–2018) British philosopher and ethicist

Animals and Why They Matter https://books.google.it/books?id=uE7lNzbN7wEC&pg=PA0 (1983), ch. 2, 4.
Context: The symbolism of meat-eating is never neutral. To himself, the meat-eater seems to be eating life. To the vegetarian, he seems to be eating death. There is a kind of gestalt-shift between the two positions which makes it hard to change, and hard to raise questions on the matter at all without becoming embattled.

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.”

Plutarch (46–127) ancient Greek historian and philosopher

“676. A little wind kindles, much puts out the fire.”

George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest

Jacula Prudentum (1651)

“We cannot kindle when we will
The fire that in the heart resides”

Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools

"Morality" (1852), st. 1
Context: We cannot kindle when we will
The fire that in the heart resides,
The spirit bloweth and is still,
In mystery our soul abides; —
But tasks, in hours of insight willed,
Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.