Quotes from Isaac Asimov

Bliss approached him slowly, placed her hand on his shoulder. "Pel, I—I think well of you." Pelorat looked away. "It's all right, Bliss. You needn't be kind." "I'm not being kind, Pel. I think—very well of you.

You see, I have cowardly feelings, but I try not to make cowardly decisions.

If all human beings understood history, they might cease making the same stupid mistakes over and over.

There can be no serious conflicts on Earth, in which one group or another can seize more power than it has for what it thinks is its own good despite the harm to Mankind as a whole, while the Machines rule.

Men who feel themselves strong enough to decide for themselves what is best for themselves, and not just to be told what is best for others.

I like you two. You're inferior creatures, with poor reasoning faculties, but I really feel a sort of affection for you. You have served the Master well, and he will reward you for that. Now that your service is over, you will probably not exist much longer, but as long as you do, you shall be provided food, clothing and shelter, so long as you stay out of the control room and the engine room.

Societies create their own history and tend to wipe out lowly beginnings, either by forgetting them or inventing totally fictitious heroic rescues.

Mankind has lost its own say in its future.' 'It never had any, really.

but she had the fierce pride in it that essentially non-creative persons always seemed to work up over a more or less fortuitous piece of creation.

He was not young any longer. Life no longer stretched before him as a vast uncharted field, its horizon lost in the distance.

Proti hlouposti ani sami bohové nic nezmohou.

The Three Laws Of Robotics: - First Law – A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. - Second Law – A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. - Third Law – A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws. Handbook of Robotics, 56th Edition, 2058 A.D.

It is the essence of a good title, in my opinion, that it means more after you have completed the story than before you started it. If that is not true, then either the title or the story, or both, is trivial.

Los matemáticos manejan grandes cantidades, pero nunca suyas…

Mankind's future] was always at the mercy of economic and sociological forces it did not understand—at the whims of climate, and the fortunes of war. Now the Machines understand them; and no one can stop them, since the Machines will deal with them as they are dealing with the Society,—having, as they do, the greatest of weapons at their disposal, the absolute control of our economy.

To have good ideas, we need to consume good ideas too. Follow your curiosity.

Gaia is just an extension of the desire for comfort and security extended to an entire planet. What's wrong with that?" "What's wrong with that," said Trevize, "is that my house or my ship is engineered to suit me. I am not engineered to suit it. If I were part of Gaia, then no matter how ideally the planet was devised to suit me, I would be greatly disturbed over the fact that I was also being devised to suit it.

To test a perfect theory with imperfect instruments did not impress the Greek philosophers as a valid way to gain knowledge.

Era um grande acréscimo à vida de Harlan. Ter alguém com quem conversar, com quem falar sobre sua vida, seus feitos e pensamentos. Era como se ela fosse uma parte dele, mas uma parte suficientemente separada para exigir a fala como comunicação, em vez do pensamento. Era uma parte suficientemente separada para ser capaz de responder de maneira imprevista, por meio de processos racionais independentes.

me gustaría recordarle que existe una diferencia entre la osadía y la ceguera. La acción decisiva está indicada cuando se conoce al enemigo y se pueden calcular aproximadamente los riesgos; pero moverse contra un potencial desconocido ya supone una osadía de por sí. Sería lo mismo que preguntar por qué un hombre salta con éxito en una carrera de obstáculos durante el día y tropieza con los muebles de su habitación por la noche.

Para vencer, la planificación por sí sola no basta. Uno debe improvisar.

I think what we need to do here is to make use of Thargola's Sword. You know what that is, Beenay?" "Of course, sir. The principle of parsimony. First put forth by the medieval philosopher Thargola 14, who said, 'We must drive a sword through any hypothesis that is not strictly necessary

It's just that old people always think young people haven't really learned about love; and young people think that old people have forgotten about love; and, you know, they're both wrong.

You mean you're going to risk your life on something that isn't your business? Gorov smiled thinly. Ponyets said, You mean that this is a matter of patriotism and traders aren't patriotic? Notoriously not. Pioneers never are.