Quotes from book
Pebble in the Sky

Name: Pebble in the Sky
Author: Isaac Asimov

Pebble in the Sky is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, published in 1950. This work is his first novel — parts of the Foundation series had appeared from 1942 onwards in magazines, but Foundation was not published in book form until 1951. The original Foundation books are also a string of linked episodes, whereas this is a complete story involving a single group of characters.

“Of course there are worlds. Millions of them! Every star you see has worlds, and most of those you don't see.”

Isaac Asimov book Pebble in the Sky

Source: Pebble in the Sky

“Any planet is 'Earth' to those that live on it.”

Isaac Asimov book Pebble in the Sky

Source: Pebble in the Sky

“It was obvious that bigotry was never a one-way operation, that hatred bred hatred!”

Isaac Asimov book Pebble in the Sky

Source: Pebble in the Sky

“They won't listen. Do you know why? Because they have certain fixed notions about the past. Any change would be blasphemy in their eyes, even if it were the truth. They don't want the truth; they want their traditions.”

Isaac Asimov book Pebble in the Sky

Source: Pebble in the Sky

“There never can be a man so lost as one who is lost in the vast and intricate corridors of his own lonely mind, where none may reach and none may save.”

Isaac Asimov book Pebble in the Sky

Source: Pebble in the Sky

“To the rest of the Galaxy, if they are aware of us at all, Earth is but a pebble in the sky. To us it is home, and all the home we know.”

Isaac Asimov book Pebble in the Sky

Pebble in the Sky (1950), chapter 4 “The Royal Road”, p. 33
All page numbers from the 1964 Bantam Pathfinder mass market paperback edition, 6th printing
Pebble in the Sky (1950)

“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)

“That is the most stupid thing yet. I tell you that I could despair of human intelligence when I see what can exist in men’s minds.”

Isaac Asimov book Pebble in the Sky

Source: Pebble in the Sky (1950), chapter 15 “The Odds That Vanished”, p. 136

“There was no denying that he would always be conscious of the fact that an Earthman was an Earthman. He couldn’t help that. That was the result of a childhood immersed in an atmosphere of bigotry so complete that it was almost invisible, so entire that you accepted its axioms as second nature. Then you left it and saw it for what it was when you looked back.”

Isaac Asimov book Pebble in the Sky

Pebble in the Sky, chapter 7 “Conversation with Madmen?”, p. 58
Pebble in the Sky (1950)

“There can never be a man so lost as one who is lost in the vast and intricate corrdiors of his own lonely mind, where none may reach and none may save. There never was a man so helpless as one who cannot remember.”

Isaac Asimov book Pebble in the Sky

Source: Empire novels (1950–1952), Pebble in the Sky (1950), Chapter 5 "The Involuntary Volunteer" (p. 57)