Quotes from Isaac Asimov

Janet was a tower of strength to me during the miserable time of uncertainty that preceded the divorce. She never pushed me; never urged me to agree to anything foolish in order to hasten the divorce; seemed perfectly willing to continue our irregular arrangement for the rest of our lives. If Gertrude was making life harder for me, Janet was making it easier to an even greater extent.

Until now in world's history, whenever we've had a dark age, its been temporary and local. And other parts of the world have been doing fine. And eventually, they help you get out of the dark age. We are now facing a possible dark age which is going to be world-wide and permanent! That's not fun. That's a different thing. But once we have established many worlds, we can do whatever we want as long as we do it one world at a time.

If we only obey those rules that we think are just and reasonable, then no rule will stand, for there is no rule that some will not think is unjust and unreasonable.

I suppose he's entitled to his opinion, but I don't suppose it very hard.

I fear my ignorance.

Words are a pretty fuzzy substitute for mathematical equations.

Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today -- but the core of science fiction, its essence, the concept around which it revolves, has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all.

There's so much knowledge to be had that specialists cling to their specialties as a shield against having to know anything about anything else. They avoid being drowned.

All the suffering that humanity ever knew can be traced to the one fact that no man in the history of the Galaxy ... could really understand one another. Every human being lived behind an impenetrable wall of choking mist within which no other but he existed.

You wait for the war to happen like vultures. If you want to help, prevent the war. Don't save the remnants. Save them all.

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.

To be perfectly honest with you, I don't really see what the big deal is about getting to the Moon with the computers and the mid-course-corrections. I know you are a bunch of engineers, and you know better than I do, but I ask you ... once you get there beyond the atmosphere, do you or do you not see the Moon?

Courtiers don't take wagers against the king's skill. There is the deadly danger of winning.

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?

Custom is second nature. Be accustomed to a bald head, sufficiently accustomed, and hair on it would seem monstrous.

All humanity could share a common insanity and be immersed in a common illusion while living in a common chaos. That can't be disproved, but we have no choice but to follow our senses.

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.

Any planet is "Earth" to those that live on it.

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.

If you ask for too much, you lose even that which you have.

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.

Love life seems to be that factor which requires the largest quantity of magical tinkering.

The cure for advanced gullibility is to go to sleep and consider matters again the next day.

You just can't differentiate between a robot and the very best of humans.