Quotes from Isaac Asimov

Violence," came the retort, "is the last refuge of the incompetent.

Being an interstellar trouble shooter wouldn't be so bad … if I could shoot the trouble!

Above all, a Technician must be dispassionate. The Reality Change he initiates may affect the lives of as many as fifty billion people. A million or more of these may be so drastically affected as to be considered new individuals. Under these conditions, an emotional make-up is a distinct handicap.

Ellos se extenderán por la Galaxia a un ritmo que irá en aumento, sin la Tierra para mirar con nostalgia, sin la Tierra en forma de un dios, y establecerán un Imperio Galáctico. Era preciso que lo hiciéramos posible. Hizo una pausa, y su voz se debilitó al decir: «Robots e Imperio».

Granted! Yet no trader since has been captured. No trade ship but has had the speed to escape at choice. No trade ship but has had a screen that could take all the beating a light cruiser could give it, should it choose to fight. And no trader but has fought to death when occasion warranted. Traders have been traced as the leaders and instigators of the guerrilla warfare on occupied planets and of the flying raids in occupied space.

She said, "I was just guessing." He said, "No, you weren't. Whatever it was, it wasn't just guessing.

Devoire shrugged, "About what?" He turned the desk chronometer rather ostentatiously so that Altmayer could see its gleaming metal face on which the red, glowing figures stood out sharply. They read 22:31, and even as it was

You do not consider your statement a disloyal one? A. No, sir. Scientific truth is beyond loyalty and disloyalty.

There are, after all, some chemicals that explode shatteringly, some that flame ravenously, some that corrode hellishly, some that poison sneakily, and some that stink stenchily. As far as I know, though, only liquid rocket fuels have all these delightful properties combined into one delectable whole.

TERMINUS … Its location (see map) was an odd one for the role it was called upon to play in Galactic history, and yet as many writers have never tired of pointing out, an inevitable one. Located on the very fringe of the Galactic spiral, an only planet of an isolated sun, poor in resources and negligible in economic value, it was never settled in the five centuries after its discovery, until the landing of the Encyclopedists …

The fall of Empire, gentlemen, is a massive thing, however, and not easily fought. It is dictated by a rising bureaucracy, a receding initiative, a freezing of caste, a damming of curiosity – a hundred other factors.

Ne yaz?k ki, Sonsuzlukta bile ÅŸimdiki zaman geçip gidiyor.

It is on a Foundation victory that Siwenna's hopes depend. It is for a Foundation victory that my sons are sacrificed. And Hari Seldon does not precalculate the inevitable salvation of Siwenna as he does that of the Foundation. I have no certainty for my people – only hope.

There have been cases all through Galactic history where isolated planetary systems have reverted to savagery, and what have we learned there? In every case, such savages attribute the to-them-incomprehensible forces of Nature—storms, pestilences, droughts—to sentient beings more powerful and more arbitrary than men.

He looked at Retief. "Uh ... got time for a drink?" "I shouldn't drink during office hours," Retief said. He rose. "So I'll take the rest of the day off.

It seems perfectly obvious that, since Terminus cannot defend itself, Anacreon must take over the job for its own sake. You understand we have no desire to interfere with internal administration—' 'Uh-huh,' grunted Hardin dryly. '—but we believe that it would be best for all concerned to have Anacreon establish a military base upon the planet.

la mojigatería no es más que la cara opuesta de la lascivia.

there's been more drinking than thinking, and more wooing than doing

They'll adjourn the trial and try to come to a private agreement with me." "How do you know?" Seldon said, "I'll be honest. I don't know. It depends on the Chief Commissioner. I have studied him for years. I have tried to analyze his workings, but you know how risky it is to introduce the vagaries of an individual in the psychohistoric equations. Yet I have hopes.

lo evidente es en muchos casos lo más difícil de ver. La gente dice es tan claro como mi nariz, pero ¿qué porción de nuestra nariz podemos ver, a menos que nos den un espejo?

Great Space!' Hardin felt annoyed. 'What is this? Every once in a while someone mentions "Emperor" or "Empire" as if it were a magic word. The Emperor is fifty thousand parsecs away, and I doubt whether he gives a damn about us. And if he does, what can he do? What there was of the imperial navy in these regions is in the hands of the four kingdoms now and Anacreon has its share. Listen, we have to fight with guns, not with words.

The friend of a conqueror is but the last victim.

Hardin groaned in spirit. The Board seemed to suffer violently from Encyclopedia on the brain. He said icily: 'Has it ever occurred to this Board that it is barely possible that Terminus may have interests other than the Encyclopedia?' Pirenne replied: 'I do not conceive, Hardin, that the Foundation can have any interest other than the Encyclopedia.' 'I didn't say the Foundation; I said Terminus.

What achievement could be grander than the creation of an object that surpasses the creator?