Isaac Asimov Quotes

• However much the creationist leaders might hammer away at their scientific and philosophical points, they would be helpless and a laughing-stock if that were all they had. It is religion that recruits their squadrons. Tens of millions of Americans, who neither know nor understand the actual arguments for - of even against - evolution, march in the army of the night, their Bibles held high. And they are a strong and frightening force, impervious to, and immunized against, the feeble lance of mere reason.

  Isaac Asimov

  4737

• There are no nations! There is only humanity. And if we don't come to understand that right soon, there will be no nations, because there will be no humanity.

  Isaac Asimov

  Isaac Asimov (2009). “I, Asimov: A Memoir”, p.592, Bantam

  2008

• There is no merit to discipline under ideal circumstances. I must have it in the face of death or it is worthless.

  Isaac Asimov

  389

• If a conclusion is not poetically balanced, it cannot be scientifically true.

  Isaac Asimov

  Isaac Asimov (2009). “The Robots of Dawn”, p.117, Spectra

  3354

• Writing is a lonely job. Even if a writer socializes regularly, when he gets down to the real business of his life, it is he and his type writer or word processor. No one else is or can be involved in the matter.

  Isaac Asimov

  Isaac Asimov (2009). “I, Asimov: A Memoir”, p.134, Bantam

  2004

• I don't expect to live forever, nor do I repine over that, but I am weak enough to want to be remembered forever. - Yet how few of those who have lived, even of those who have accomplished far more than I have, linger on in world memory for even a single century after death

  Isaac Asimov

  Isaac Asimov (2002). “It's Been a Good Life”, Pyr Books

  2810

• It is quite clear that as long as the nations of the world spend most of their energy, money, and emotional strength in quarreling with words and weapons, a true offensive against the common problems that threaten human survival is not very likely. A world government that can channel human efforts in the direction of the great solutions seems desirable, even essential. Naturally, such a world government should be a federal one, with regional and local autonomy safeguarded and with cultural diversity promoted.

  Isaac Asimov

  4276

• Life is a journey, but don't worry, you'll find a parking spot at the end.

  Isaac Asimov

  1515

• 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. It has been going on, as I have said, for centuries, and it is too majestic and massive a movement to stop.

  Isaac Asimov

  Isaac Asimov (1986). “Foundation Trilogy”, Del Rey

  533

• How many people is the earth able to sustain?

  Isaac Asimov

  1971 Der Spiegel.

  2342

• Postulates are based on assumption and adhered to by faith. Nothing in the Universe can shake them.

  Isaac Asimov

  Isaac Asimov (1983). “The Robot Collection: The Robot Novels”, Doubleday Books

  3047

• What would I do if I knew I only had six months to live? Type faster.

  Isaac Asimov

  3157

• Writing is my only interest. Even speaking is an interruption.

  Isaac Asimov

  3781

• Even as a youngster, though, I could not bring myself to believe that if knowledge presented danger, the solution was ignorance. To me, it always seemed that the solution had to be wisdom. You did not refuse to look at danger, rather you learned how to handle it safely.

  Isaac Asimov

  Ignorance  

  Isaac Asimov (2011). “The Naked Sun”, p.8, Spectra

  1545

• Nothing has to be true, but everything has to sound true.

  Isaac Asimov

  2268

• I expect death to be nothingness and, for removing me from all possible fears of death, I am thankful to atheism.

  Isaac Asimov

  3565

• No vision of God and heaven ever experienced by the most exalted prophet can, in my opinion, match the vision of the universe as seen by Newton or Einstein

  Isaac Asimov

  4008

• Naturally, since [the Sumerians] didn't know what caused the flood anymore than we do, they blamed the gods. (That's the advantage of religion. You're never short an explanation for anything.)

  Isaac Asimov

  Isaac Asimov (1989). “The Tyrannosaurus Prescription and 100 Other Essays”

  2762

• If you're born in a cubicle and grow up in a corridor, and work in a cell, and vacation in a crowded sun-room, then coming up into the open with nothing but sky over you might just give you a nervous breakdown.

  Isaac Asimov

  Isaac Asimov (1986). “Foundation Trilogy”, Del Rey

  3230

• Many adults, whether consciously or unconsciously, find it beneath their adult dignity to do anything as childish as read a book, think a thought, or get an idea. Adults are rarely embarrased at having forgotten what little algebra or geography they once learned

  Isaac Asimov

  Thinking  

  2967

• All the hundreds of millions of people who, in their time, believed the Earth was flat never succeeded in unrounding it by an inch.

  Isaac Asimov

  Isaac Asimov (1976). “The planet that wasn't”, Doubleday Books

  3866

• When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent.

  Isaac Asimov

  3790

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

  Isaac Asimov

  Isaac Asimov (1986). “Foundation Trilogy”, Del Rey

  2132

• A neat and orderly laboratory is unlikely. It is, after all, so much a place of false starts and multiple attempts.

  Isaac Asimov

  4109

• It is well-known that the friend of a conqueror is but the last victim.

  Isaac Asimov

  Isaac Asimov (1986). “Foundation Trilogy”, Del Rey

  4037

• There is not a discovery in science, however revolutionary, however sparkling with insight, that does not arise out of what went before.

  Isaac Asimov

  3302

• In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate.

  Isaac Asimov

  2371

• During the century after Newton, it was still possible for a man of unusual attainments to master all fields of scientific knowledge. But by 1800, this had become entirely impracticable.

  Isaac Asimov

  Men  

  Isaac Asimov (1968). “The Intelligent Man's Guide to the Physical Sciences”

  2362

• I don't believe in personal immortality; the only way I expect to have some version of such a thing is through my books.

  Isaac Asimov

  Isaac Asimov (1995). “Yours, Isaac Asimov: A Lifetime of Letters”, Doubleday Books

  2192

• I'm gradually managing to cram my mind more and more full of things. I've got this beautiful mind and it's going to die, and it'll all be gone. And then I say, not in my case. Every idea I've ever had I've written down, and it's all there on paper. And I won't be gone; it'll be there.

  Isaac Asimov

  Isaac Asimov, Carl Howard Freedman (2005). “Conversations with Isaac Asimov”, p.139, Univ. Press of Mississippi

  3728

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