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Isaac Asimov

396 quotes

“In my fiction I am careful to make everything probable and to tie up all loose ends. Real life is not hampered by such considerations.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Puzzles of the Black Widowers (1984), p. 132
“Science fiction offers its writers chances of embarrassment that no other form of fiction does.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Robot Dreams (1986), introduction
“There is more to a science fiction story than the science it contains. There is also the story.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Robot Dreams (1986), introduction
“There are limits beyond which your folly will not carry you. I am glad of that. In fact, I am relieved.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Doctor Susan Calvin in "Robot Dreams" in Robot Dreams (1986)
“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!', but 'That's funny ...'”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All life is nucleic acid; the rest is commentary”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Beginning with Bone" (May 1987), reprinted in The Relativity of Wrong (1988)
“I suppose he's entitled to his opinion, but I don't suppose it very hard.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Seven Steps to Grand Master” in Nebula Awards 22 (1988), edited by George Zebrowski
“Good literature, all if it, is supposed to illuminate the human condition.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview by Richard Heffner on The Open Mind (19 June 1988); video (15:02)
“Of all the cultural aspects of humanity, the only one which is not broken up into national or regional splinters is science. Different nations have different languages, they may have different religions, may have different dietaries, may have different holidays, different ways of thinking, but here’s only one science.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview by Richard Heffner on The Open Mind (19 June 1988); video (25:31)
“Science doesn't purvey absolute truth. Science is a mechanism. It's a way of trying to improve your knowledge of nature. It's a system for testing your thoughts against the universe and seeing whether they match. And this works, not just for the ordinary aspects of science, but for all of life. I should think people would want to know that what they know is truly what the universe is like, or at least as close as they can get to it.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview by Bill Moyers on Bill Moyers' World Of Ideas (21 October 1988); transcript (pages 5-6)
“The Law of conservation of energy tells us we can't get something for nothing, but we refuse to believe it.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988)
“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), edited with Jason A. Shulman, p. 281
“As indicated by our very name, we humanists celebrate humanity, want humanity to survive, and recognize that if humanity does survive, it will be by its own efforts. Never can we sit back and wait for miracles to save us. Miracles don't happen. Sweat happens. Effort happens. Thought happens. And it is up to us humanists to help — to expend our sweat, our effort and our thought. Then there will be hope for the world.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Essay in Humanist magazine (September/October 1989)
“All mankind, right down to those you most despise, are your neighbors.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lost in Non-Translation" (1989), in Magic (Voyager, 1997) p. 270
“We are meant to know, or we are amoebae. Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know — and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance. It is better to know — even if the knowledge endured only for the moment that comes before destruction — than to gain eternal life at the price of a dull and swinish lack of comprehension of a universe that swirls unseen before us in all its wonder. That was the choice of Achilles, and it is mine, too.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The New Hugo Winners: Award-winning Science Fiction Stories Vol. 1 (1989), p. 215
“I made up my mind long ago to follow one cardinal rule in all my writing — to be clear. I have given up all thought of writing poetically or symbolically or experimentally, or in any of the other modes that might (if I were good enough) get me a Pulitzer prize. I would write merely clearly and in this way establish a warm relationship between myself and my readers, and the professional critics — Well, they can do whatever they wish.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Introduction to Nemesis (1989)
“[Writing] is an addiction more powerful than alcohol, than nicotine, than crack. I could not conceive of not writing.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, April 1990, p.6
“Radiation, unlike smoking, drinking, and overeating, gives no pleasure, so the possible victims object.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Journal of NIH Research (1990), 2, 30
“Books ... hold within them the gathered wisdom of humanity, the collected knowledge of the world's thinkers, the amusement and excitement built up by the imaginations of brilliant people. Books contain humor, beauty, wit, emotion, thought, and, indeed, all of life. Life without books is empty.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Puzzles of the Black Widowers (1990), pp. 74-75
“The foundation of all technology is fire.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Asimov's Chronology of the World (1991), p. 11
“If anyone can be considered the greatest writer who ever lived, it is Shakespeare.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Asimov's Chronology of the World (1991), p. 226
“Scientific theories can always be improved and are improved. That is one of the glories of science. It is the authoritarian view of the Universe that is frozen in stone and cannot be changed, so that once it is wrong, it is wrong forever.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Nearest Star" (1989) (reprinted in The Secret of the Universe (1992), p. 82)
“It's my belief that the Universe possesses, in its essence, fractal properties of a very complex sort and that the pursuit of science shares those properties. It follows that any part of the Universe that remains un-understood, and any part of scientific investigation that remains unresolved, however small that might be in comparison to what is understood and resolved, contains within it all the complexity of the original. Therefore, we'll never finish. No matter how far we go, the road ahead will be as long as it was at the start, and that's the secret of the Universe.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Secrets of the Universe" (1989) (essay reprinted in The Secret of the Universe (1992), p. 167)
“The job of science will never be done, it will just sink deeper and deeper into never-ending complexity.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Secrets of the Universe" (1989) (essay reprinted in The Secret of the Universe (1992), p. 168)
“Ideas are cheap. It's only what you do with them that counts.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Secrets of the Universe" (1989) (essay reprinted in The Secret of the Universe (1992), p. 167)
“Someone once asked me, "If you had your choice, Dr. Asimov, would it be women or writing?" My answer was, "Well, I can write for twelve hours at a time without getting tired.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Just Say 'No!'" (1989) (reprinted in The Secret of the Universe (1992), p. 235)
“In the course of my fight with the school, I couldn't help but notice that I became a pariah. [...] Once, however, a fellow faculty member, making sure we were unobserved, said to me, "Isaac, the faculty is proud of you for your courage in fighting the administration for academic freedom." I said, "There's no courage involved in it. Don't you know my definition of academic freedom?" "No. What's your definition of academic freedom?" I said, "Independent income.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: No. 499, Asimov Laughs Again (1992)
“I was once being interviewed by Barbara Walters [...] In between two of the segments she asked me [...] "But what would you do if the doctor gave you only six months to live?" I said, "Type faster." This was widely quoted, but the "six months" was changed to "six minutes," which bothered me. It's "six months.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: No. 255, Asimov Laughs Again (1992)
“If you suspect that my interest in the Bible is going to inspire me with sudden enthusiasm for Judaism and make me a convert of mountain‐moving fervor and that I shall suddenly grow long earlocks and learn Hebrew and go about denouncing the heathen — you little know the effect of the Bible on me. Properly read, it is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Notes for a Memoir : On Isaac Asimov, Life, and Writing (2006) by Janet Jeppson Asimov, p. 58
“I don't believe in an afterlife, so I don't have to spend my whole life fearing hell, or fearing heaven even more. For whatever the tortures of hell, I think the boredom of heaven would be even worse.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Philosophy on the Go (2007) by Joey Green, p. 222
“A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1942 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Runaround" in Astounding Science Fiction (March 1942); later published in I, Robot (1950)
“A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1942 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Runaround" in Astounding Science Fiction (March 1942); later published in I, Robot (1950)
“A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1942 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Runaround" in Astounding Science Fiction (March 1942); later published in I, Robot (1950)
“A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Robots and Empire (1985); a variant of this first occurred in The Evitable Conflict (1950) as: No robot may harm humanity, or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
“If the love of money is the root of all evil, the need of money is most certainly the root of all despair.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Earth governments in moments of stress are not famous for being reasonable.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Things in the past always seem greater.” Brand condescended with a smile. “There is a theorem to that effect which you’ll find in any elementary text. Freshmen invariably call it the ‘GOD Theorem.’ Stands for ‘Good-Old-Days,’ you know. But go on.” Theor frowned at the digression. He hid the beginning of a sneer. “You can always dismiss an uncomfortable fact by pinning a dowdy label to it.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Modesty is an unnatural attitude, and one which is only with difficulty taught to children.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Self-preservation has frequently knuckled under to that tremendous yearning to ‘get even.’”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What a human being believes, however, no matter with what ardor, is not necessarily objective truth.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The evil drink does,” said George, with a heavily alcoholic sigh, “would be hard to assess.” “Not if you were sober,” I said.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An accent?” “Substandard English. Foreigners who have not learned the language as infants but who pick it up in later life invariably mispronounce the vowels, miss out on word order, break up the grammar, and so on.” A look of sheer horror crossed Azazel’s tiny face. “But that’s a capital offense,” he said. “Not on this world,” I said. “It should be, but it isn’t.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You clearly know nothing at all about economics, old fellow.” “Neither do economists, George,” I said.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He seemed so pleasant, so friendly, so grateful for little favors. How could I know that underneath it all he was a vicious, libelous hellhound.” George said, “But he was a critic. How could he be anything else? You train for the post by maligning your mother.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Arrange for the statue to come to life while we are watching, and make sure that it is terribly in love with Elderberry.” “Love is easy. That’s just a matter of adjusting hormones.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He could almost wish he were superstitious. He could then console himself with the thought that the casual meaningless meeting had really been directed by a knowing and purposeful Fate.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Surely you believe in God?” “Well, said R.E., “I believed a lot of things about Him that would probably startle you.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We face eternity now. We have no universe left, no outside phenomena, no emotions, no passions. Nothing but ourselves and thought. We face an eternity of introspection, when all through history we have never known what to do with ourselves on a rainy Sunday.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1943 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Last Trump (p. 118; perhaps echoing Susan Ertz in Anger in the Sky (1943): Millions long for immortality who don’t know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.)
“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. Oh, yes, my friend, we have been judged, and condemned, too, and this is not Heaven, but hell.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why didn’t people just use a computer?” “That was before they had computers,” cried Paul. “Before?” “Sure. Do you think people always had computers? Didn’t you ever hear of cavemen?”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source