“It is the invariable lesson to humanity that distance in time, and in space as well, lends focus.”

—  Isaac Asimov

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation and Empire (1952), Chapter 13 “Lieutenant and Clown”
Context: It is the invariable lesson to humanity that distance in time, and in space as well, lends focus. It is not recorded, incidentally, that the lesson has ever been permanently learned.

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 "It is the invariable lesson to humanity that distance in time, and in space as well, lends focus." by Isaac Asimov?
Isaac Asimov photo
Isaac Asimov 303
American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston Uni… 1920–1992

Related quotes

Oliver Wendell Holmes photo

“Faith loves to lean on time's destroying arm,
And age, like distance, lends a double charm.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894) Poet, essayist, physician

Urania: A Rhymed Lesson (1846), p. 11.

Mark Twain quote: “Distance lends enchantment to the view.”
Mark Twain photo

“Distance lends enchantment to the view.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Oliver Herford photo

“Age, like distance, lends a double charm.”

Oliver Herford (1863–1935) American writer

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Urania: A Rhymed Lesson (1846), p. 11.
Misattributed

Thomas Campbell photo

“Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,
And robes the mountain in its azure hue.”

Thomas Campbell (1777–1844) British writer

Part I, line 7
Pleasures of Hope (1799)

Alan Moore photo

“In conceptual space they are right next to one another. Distances can only be associative, even vast interstellar distances shouldn’t be a problem. Time would also function like this.”

Alan Moore (1953) English writer primarily known for his work in comic books

De Abaitua interview (1998)
Context: Mental space and its existence is what makes things like remote viewing possible. There shouldn’t be any limit to it. As I understand mental space, one of the differences between it and physical space, is that there is no space in it. All the distances are associative. In the real world, Land's End and John O’Groats are famously far apart. Yet you can’t say one without thinking of the other. In conceptual space they are right next to one another. Distances can only be associative, even vast interstellar distances shouldn’t be a problem. Time would also function like this.

Gerald James Whitrow photo

“We have assumed that the laws of nature must be capable of expression in a form which is invariant for all possible transformations of the space-time co-ordinates”

Gerald James Whitrow (1912–2000) British mathematician

The Structure of the Universe: An Introduction to Cosmology (1949)
Context: The philosophical consequences of the General Theory of Relativity are perhaps more striking than the experimental tests. As Bishop Barnes has reminded us, "The astonishing thing about Einstein's equations is that they appear to have come out of nothing." We have assumed that the laws of nature must be capable of expression in a form which is invariant for all possible transformations of the space-time co-ordinates and also that the geometry of space-time is Riemannian. From this exiguous basis, formulae of gravitation more accurate than those of Newton have been derived. As Barnes points out...

James Jeans photo
Alastair Reynolds photo
Larry Holmes photo

“When you constantly hear people talking about going the distance, going the distance, you can't help but wonder about it. I learned a lesson: next time I will fight my fight without that doubt.”

Larry Holmes (1949) American boxer

After the Cooney fight, as quoted in "Sport: Larry Holmes: I Still Have It" by Tom Callahan in TIME (21 June 1982) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925485-3,00.html.

“A space representing the shortest distances for messages to travel…”

James Grier Miller (1916–2002) biologist

Living Systems: Basic Concepts (1969)

Related topics