Isaac Asimov Quotes
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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.
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It is only afterward that a new idea seems reasonable. To begin with, it usually seems unreasonable.
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He is a dreamer of ancient times, or rather, of the myths of what ancient times used to be. Such men are harmless in themselves, but their queer lack of realism makes them fools for others.
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But suppose we were to teach creationism. What would be the content of the teaching? Merely that a creator formed the universe and all species of life ready-made? Nothing more? No details?
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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.'
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There is no belief, however foolish, that will not gather its faithful adherents who will defend it to the death.
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Weisinger, a couple of years ago, made up the following story: 'Isaac Asimov was asked how Superman could fly faster than the speed of light, which was supposed to be an absolute limit. To this Asimov replied, 'That the speed of light is a limit is a theory; that Superman can travel faster than light is a fact.''
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Hypocrisy is a universal phenomenon. It ends with death, but not before.
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The unwritten motto of United States Robot and Mechanical Men Corp. was well-known: 'No employee makes the same mistake twice. He is fired the first time.'
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Titles are an important part of a story and I take considerable care in choosing one. In fact, I cannot start a story until I have chosen a title.
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Asimov: I don't know of any science fiction writer who really attempts to be a prophet. Such authors accomplish their tasks not by being correct in their predictions, necessarily, but merely by hammering home-in story after story-the notion that life is going to be different.
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The easiest way to solve a problem is to deny it exists.
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It was easy to cover up ignorance by the mystical word 'intuition.'
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To him, a stilted geometric love of arrangement was 'system,' an indefatigable and feverish interest in the pettiest facets of day-to-day bureaucracy was 'industry,' indecision when right was 'caution,' and blind stubbornness when wrong, 'determination.'
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'That was the time to begin all-out preparations for war.' 'On the contrary. That was the time to begin all-out prevention of war.'
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The machine is only a tool after all, which can help humanity progress faster by taking some of the burdens of calculations and interpretations off its back. The task of the human brain remains what it has always been; that of discovering new data to be analyzed, and of devising new concepts to be tested.
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When you write a short story ... you had better know the ending first. The end of a story is only the end to the reader. To the writer, it's the beginning. If you don't know exactly where you're going every minute you're writing, you'll never get there - or anywhere.
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There is more to a science fiction story than the science it contains. There is also the story.
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SWA Magazine: Talking about spacecraft, what do you think about the shuttle program?
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A planet full of people meant nothing against the dictates of economic necessity!
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'Reason', p. 63
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Radiation, unlike smoking, drinking, and overeating, gives no pleasure, so the possible victims object.
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Can the word ‘best’ mean anything at all, except to some particular person in some particular mood? Perhaps not - so if we allow the word to stand as an absolute, you, or you, or perhaps you, may be appalled at omissions or inclusions or, never having read me before, may even be impelled to cry out, ‘Good heavens, are those his best?’
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Once you've dissected a joke, you're about where you are when you've dissected a frog. It's dead.