American author & professor of biochemistry (1920-1992)
A myth or legend is simply not made up out of a vacuum. Nothing is--or can be. Somehow there is a kernel of truth behind it, however distorted that might be.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Foundation's Edge
Why ... did so many people spend their lives not trying to find answers to questions -- not even thinking of questions to begin with? Was there anything more exciting in life than seeking answers?
ISAAC ASIMOV
Prelude to Foundation
There's no merit in discipline under ideal circumstances. I'll have it in the face of death, or it's useless.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Foundation
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
Pebble in the Sky
The cure for advanced gullibility is to go to sleep and consider matters again the next day.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Prelude to Foundation
Suppose we were to teach creationism. What would be the content of the teaching? Merely that a creator formed the universe and all species of life ready-made? Nothing more? No details?
ISAAC ASIMOV
"The Dangerous Myth of Creationism", Penthouse, Jan. 1982
In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Fantastic Voyage II
Custom is second nature. Be accustomed to a bald head, sufficiently accustomed, and hair on it would seem monstrous.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Prelude to Foundation
Courtiers don't take wagers against the king's skill. There is the deadly danger of winning.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Foundation
Any planet is "Earth" to those that live on it.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Pebble in the Sky
The tyranny that now exists is actual. That which may exist in the future is potential. If we are always to draw back from change with the thought that the change may be for the worse, then there is no hope at all of ever escaping injustice.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Prelude to Foundation
Postulates are based on assumption and adhered to by faith. Nothing in the Universe can shake them.
ISAAC ASIMOV
I, Robot
Considering what human beings do and have done to human beings (and to other living things as well) ... I can never imagine what the devil people think computers can add to the horrors.
ISAAC ASIMOV
The Beginning and the End
You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you're working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success -- but only if you persist.
ISAAC ASIMOV
attributed, How to Become a Famous Writer Before You're Dead
It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.... This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our everyman must take on a science fictional way of thinking.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Asimov on Science Fiction
You just can't differentiate between a robot and the very best of humans.
ISAAC ASIMOV
I, Robot
Love life seems to be that factor which requires the largest quantity of magical tinkering.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Foundation and Empire
When asked for advice by beginners. Know your ending, I say, or the river of your story may finally sink into the desert sands and never reach the sea.
ISAAC ASIMOV
I, Asimov: A Memoir
There was this superstitious fear on the part of the pygmies of the present for the relics of the giants of the past.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Second Foundation
With both people and computers on the job, computer error can be more quickly tracked down and corrected by people and, conversely, human error can be more quickly corrected by computers. What it amounts to is that nothing serious can happen unless human error and computer error take place simultaneously. And that hardly ever happens.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Prelude to Foundation