Quotes from Isaac Asimov

We were never under any delusions as to which was more important, an individual or humanity.

So, in a Civil Service where smooth and sociable performance was more useful than an individualistic competence, Enderby went up the scale quickly, and was at the Commissioner level when Baley himself was nothing more than a C-5.

I find it impossible to believe that there would be such unreasoning feeling against harmless people." Amaryl said bitterly, "That's because you've never had any occasion to interest yourself in such things. It can all pass right under your nose and you wouldn't smell a thing because it doesn't affect you.

superluminal velocities

One way of saving on energy use would be to do away with unnecessary transportation. For instance, people commute between work and home, or travel long distances to engage in business conferences. With the development of improved communications and increasing automation, it will become possible in the not-too-distant future, for people to control and maintain business operations and machinery at a distance.

What man does for his own desires and comforts affects the complex total-of-life, the ecology, and his short-term gains can bring long-term disadvantages. The Machines taught us to set up a human society which would minimize that, but the near-disaster of the early Twenty-first Century has left mankind suspicious of innovations.

Bir robot, bir insana zarar veremez. Ya da hareketsiz kalarak bir insan?n zarar görmesine neden olamaz. 2. Bir robot, insanlar?n verdikleri emirlere uymak zorundad?r. Ancak bu tür emirler Birinci Yasayla çeliÅŸtiÄŸi zaman durum deÄŸiÅŸir. 3. Bir robot, Birinci ve Ä°kinci Yasalarla çeliÅŸmediÄŸi sürece varl???n? korumak zorundad?r. Robotik El Kitab? 56. Bask?. M.S. 2158

It's really disheartening, the universal stupidity. I think that I wouldn't grieve at mankind's suicide through sheer evilness of heart, or through mere recklessness. There's something so damned undignified at going to destruction through sheer thickheaded stupidity. What's the use of being men if that's how you have to die.

All knowledge is one

Saying something is 'too bad' is easy. You say you disapprove, which makes you a nice person, and then you can go about your own business and not be interested anymore.

Look. I spend my life in space for my five-and-dime gadgets and my beer-and-pretzel kickback from the Combines. There's fat fellows back there,' his thumb jerked over his shoulder and back, 'that sit at home and collect my year's income every minute-out of skimmings from me and more like me. Suppose you run the Foundation. You'll still need us.

You distrusted the Imperials too. Most human beings do these days, which is an important factor in the decay and deterioration of the Empire.

Not all persons would be equally believed, Demerzel. A mathematician, however, who could back his prophecy with mathematical formulas and terminology, might be understood by no one and yet believed by everyone.

deus ex machina

Don't you think my interest can be real, even granted that it is professional, too?" "No, I don't.

Para triunfar, el solo planteamiento es insuficiente. También se debe improvisar.»

É realmente muito desanimadora essa estupidez universal. Acho que eu não sofreria tanto se o suicídio da humanidade resultasse apenas de pura maldade de coração ou por mera inconsequência. Mas é de uma falha tão desgraçada de dignidade, que estamos a ponto de nos destruir como fruto da mais obtusa e impenetrável estupidez.

If nuclear power makes them dangerous, a sincere friendship through trade will be many times better than an insecure overlordship, based on the hated supremacy of a foreign spiritual power, which, once it weakens ever so slightly, can only fall entirely and leave nothing substantial behind except an immortal fear and hate.

The mistiness of distance hides the truth

that even the most casual of compliments can be given that extra little touch that women adore.

If it's the product of nonhuman minds and hands, what may seem primitive may, in actual fact, be merely nonhuman.

It is amazing to me that I continued writing. I can only explain it by my experience in later life. When I have felt depressed and unhappy, the only anodyne I had (since I have never smoked, drunk, or drugged) was to write.

He was thirty-two. Not old—but he felt old. His body, whatever its mutant mental powers, was physically weak. Every star! Every star he could see—and every star he couldn't see. It must all be his! Revenge on all. On a humanity of which he wasn't a part. On a Galaxy in which he didn't fit.

Fakat art?k dünyan?n ne olduÄŸunu biliyordu: ÖzgürlüÄŸün s?n?rs?zl???yla kuÅŸat?lm?? bir hapishane..