Isaac Asimov Quotes
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Asimov: Well, I liked Star Wars. I thought Battlestar Galactica was such a close imitation of Star Wars, emphasizing the less attractive portions, that I was a little impatient with it.
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Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.
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It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.
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Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest.
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Inertia! Our ruling class knows one law; no change. Despotism! They know one rule; force. Maldistribution! They know one desire; to hold what is theirs.
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There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.
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To Mankind And the hope that the war against folly may someday be won, after all.
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It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.
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Korell is that frequent phenomenon in history: the republic whose ruler has every attribute of the absolute monarch but the name. It therefore enjoyed the usual despotism unrestrained even by those two moderating influences in the legitimate monarchies: regal 'honor' and court etiquette.
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The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.
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There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere.
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The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'
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It is well-known that the friend of a conqueror is but the last victim.
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To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today.
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I’ve lived most of my life already and I suppose I can argue myself into believing that I have no great cause to love humanity. However, only a few people have hurt me, and if I hurt everyone in return that is unconscionable usury.
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There are no happy endings in history, only crisis points that pass.
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There is no way of being almost funny or mildly funny or fairly funny or tolerably funny. You are either funny or not funny and there is nothing in between. And usually it is the writer who thinks he is funny and the reader who thinks he isn't.
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It is because you yourself fear the propaganda created, after all, only by the stupidity of your own bigots.
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The house was somehow very lonely at night and Dr. Darell found that the fate of the Galaxy made remarkably little difference while his daughter’s mad little life was in danger.
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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.
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A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
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Q. You do not consider your statement a disloyal one? A. No, sir. Scientific truth is beyond loyalty and disloyalty. Q. You are sure that your statement represents scientific truth? A. I am.
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John Dalton's records, carefully preserved for a century, were destroyed during the World War II bombing of Manchester. It is not only the living who are killed in war.
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A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.