Quotes from Isaac Asimov

La psicohistoria no trataba del hombre, sino de las masas de hombres. Era la ciencia de las muchedumbres, de miles de millones de personas. Podía prever las reacciones a diferentes estímulos con la misma exactitud que una ciencia menor predecía el rebote de una bola de billar. La reacción de un hombre se podía vaticinar por medio de las matemáticas conocidas, pero la de mil millones era algo distinto

The Dantean conceptions of Inferno were childish and unworthy of the divine imagination: fire and torture. Boredom is much more subtle. The inner torture of a mind unable to escape itself in any way, condemned to fester in its own exuding mental pus for all time, is much more fitting.

Pions are the mediating particles of the strong nuclear interaction. The intensity of the interaction depends on the mass of the pions and that mass can, under certain specialized conditions, be altered. The Lunar physicists have developed an instrument they call the Pionizer, which can be made to do jut such a thing. Once the pion's mass is decreased, or increased for that matter, it is, effectively, part of another Universe; it becomes a gateway, a crossing point.

And finally, people are against it." "But why?" "Because they're against science in general. You should know this as well as anyone, Professor.

We can't give up just because the Universe does.

Originalmente el lenguaje fue el medio por el cual el hombre aprendió, de forma imperfecta, a transmitir las ideas y emociones de su mente. Estableciendo arbitrarios sonidos y combinaciones de los mismos que representasen ciertos matices mentales, desarrolló un método de comunicación, método que con su torpeza y falta de adecuación hizo degenerar toda la delicadeza de la mente en roscas señales guturales.

Andar es el mejor modo de transporte en las distancias cortas, el más conveniente, más barato y más sano. Incontables años de avances tecnológicos no han podido cambiar esto…

An insolubility is not a problem.

Pero ella había muerto. Su matrimonio sólo duró cinco años; y después comprendió que sólo podría vivir contra aquel vago y temible enemigo que le privaba de su dignidad de hombre al controlar su destino, que convertía la vida en una triste lucha contra un fin predestinado, que hacía de todo el universo un juego de ajedrez odioso y mortal.

nunca cometía la equivocación de ser demasiado educado con un hombre de la Fundación. Él podía ser un extranjero, pero un hombre siempre es un hombre.

A planet might deteriorate even if human beings existed upon it, if the society were itself abnormal and did not understand the importance of preserving the environment." "Surely," said Pelorat, "such a society would quickly be destroyed. I don't think it would be possible for human beings to fail to understand the importance of retaining the very factors that are keeping them alive.

In fact, it was part of the Tyrannian military tradition that a little discomfort on the part of the soldier was good for discipline.

my government at once." "Sit down, Hardin. I am not declaring war, and you are not communicating with your government at all. When the war is fought—not declared, Hardin, fought—the Foundation will be informed of it in due time by the nuclear blasts of the Anacreonian navy under the lead of my own son upon the flagship, Wienis, once a cruiser of the Imperial navy." Hardin frowned. "When will all this happen?" "If you're really interested

At any rate, without quite knowing what dissatisfied me about the robot stories I read, I waited for something better, and I found it in the December 1938 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. That issue contained "Helen O'Loy" by Lester del Rey, a story in which a robot was portrayed sympathetically. It was, I believe, only his second story, but I was a del Rey fan forever after.

You seek to trap me into an inconsistency. If you were an amoeba who could consider individuality only in connection with single cells and if you were to ask a sperm whale, made up of thirty quadrillion cells, whether it was one or many, how could the sperm whale answer in a way that would be comprehensible to the amoeba?

there is something even higher than the justice which you have been filled with. There is a human impulse known as mercy; a human act known as forgiveness." "I am not acquainted with those words, partner Elijah." "I know," muttered Baley. "I know.

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

Once it was well known that cigarettes increased the incidence of lung cancer, the obvious remedy was to stop smoking, but the desired remedy was a cigarette that did not encourage cancer. When it became clear that the internal-combustion engine was polluting the atmosphere dangerously, the obvious remedy was to abandon such engines, and the desired remedy was to develop non-polluting engines.

It worked out neatly, yet it had all changed for him, and what was broken could not be made whole again.

You see, Elijah, when you live several centuries, you have plenty of time to lose thousands of things. Be th-thankful for short life, Elijah.

the credits still go—unproductively—to the armed forces and vital areas of the social good are allowed to deteriorate. That's what I call decay.

sipping wine while the house was falling

Las ropas que llevaban no eran nada reveladoras, notó decepcionado, y ninguna de ellas iba escotada, aunque algunos trajes parecían diseñados para realzar las nalgas.

Ardo dal desiderio di spiegare, e la mia massima soddisfazione è prendere qualcosa di ragionevolmente intricato e renderlo chiaro passo dopo passo. È il modo più facile per chiarire le cose a me stesso.