“I was once being interviewed by Barbara Walters… In between two of the segments she asked me…"But what would you do if the doctor gave you only six months to live?" I said, "Type faster." This was widely quoted, but the "six months" was changed to "six minutes," which bothered me. It's "six months."”

— Isaac Asimov

Asimov Laughs Again (1992)
General sources

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I was once being interviewed by Barbara Walters… In between two of the segments she asked me…"But what would you do if …" by Isaac Asimov?

Isaac Asimov 303

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

Related quotes

“You don't have to be born in New York City to be a New Yorker. You have to live here for six months. And if at the end of the six months you walk faster, you talk faster, you think faster, you're a New Yorker.”

Ed Koch (1924–2013) former mayor of New York City

Interview ("What Makes a New Yorker"), New York: A Documentary Film.

“I mean some doctor told me I had six months to live and I went to their funeral.”

Keith Richards (1943) British rock musician, member of The Rolling Stones

“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.”

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …

Variant: If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster. Časopis LIFE, január 1984

“And it is not knowable if force will be used, but if it is to be used, it is not knowable how long that conflict would last. It could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.”

Donald Rumsfeld (1932) U.S. Secretary of Defense

TownHall Meeting At Aviano Air Base in Italy (7 February 2003) https://web.archive.org/web/20070114160540/http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2003/t02072003_t0207sdtownhall.html
2000s

“You know, they can't keep me here for more than six months.”

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920–1975) Bengali revolutionary, founder ("father") of Bangladesh

While speaking with a western journalist during proceedings of the Agartala conspiracy trial. Mujib was released within in seven months of his arrest as a result of mass agitation and wide scale civil disobedience in East Pakistan. http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2008/08/04/chintito.htm
Quote, Other

“Everything has to be at once for six-month-old puppies, six-year-old children, and reformers of any age.”

H. Beam Piper (1904–1964) American science fiction writer

A Slave is a Slave (1962)
Context: Oh, he won't think of it in those terms. He'll be preventing me from sabotaging the Emancipation. He doesn't want to wait three generations; he wants to free them at once. Everything has to be at once for six-month-old puppies, six-year-old children, and reformers of any age.