Though science can cause problems, it is not by ignorance that we will solve them.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Science
To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Ignorance
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 has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Science Fiction
Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Humanity, Future, Stars
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.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: War
Humanity is cutting down its forests, apparently oblivious to the fact that we may not be able to live without them
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Wilderness
Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Thinking
We can make inspired guesses, but we don’t know for certain what physical and chemical properties of the planet’s crust, its ocean, and its atmosphere made it so conducive to such a sudden appearance of life …
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Creation
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (“I’ve found it!”) but “That’s funny…”
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Science
Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Computers
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….
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Decision
The advance of genetic engineering makes it quite conceivable that we will begin to design our own evolutionary progress.
—Isaac Asimov
Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.
—Isaac Asimov
The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.
—Isaac Asimov
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. This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our every man must take on a science fictional way of thinking.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Change, Future
If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Authors & Writing, Writing, Writers
An atom-blaster is a good weapon, but it can point both ways.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Weapon
Although the time of death is approaching me, I am not afraid of dying and going to Hell or (what would be considerably worse) going to the popularized version of Heaven. I expect death to be nothingness and, for removing me from all possible fears of death, I am thankful to atheism.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Atheism
When asked what he would do if he only had six months to live: Type faster.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Dreams
Why is it that you physicists always require so much expensive equipment? Now the Department of Mathematics requires nothing but money for paper, pencils, and erasers…and the Department of Philosophy is better still. It doesn’t even ask for erasers
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Philosophy
There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Science
There is nothing frightening about an eternal dreamless sleep. Surely it is better than eternal torment in Hell and eternal boredom in Heaven.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Death
Nothing interferes with my concentration. You could put on an orgy in my office and I wouldn’t look up. Well, maybe once.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Concentration, Focus, Goals
A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Values
If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Atheism
Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Education, Self-improvement, Progress
How often people speak of art and science as though they were two entirely different things, with no interconnection… That is all wrong. The true artist is quite rational as well as imaginative and knows what he is doing; if he does not, his art suffers. The true scientist is quite imaginative as well as rational, and sometimes leaps to solutions where reason can follow only slowly; if he does not, his science suffers.
—Isaac Asimov
Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what’s right.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Morality, Integrity, Morals
It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Communication, Manners
I am not a speed reader. I am a speed understander.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Books, Reading
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Ursula K. Le Guin Science-fiction writer
- Robert A. Heinlein American Science Fiction Writer
- Ayn Rand Russian-born American Novelist
- Russell Hoban American Author
- Isaac Bashevis Singer Polish-born American Children’s Books Writer
- Ray Bradbury American Science-Fiction Writer
- Vladimir Nabokov Russian-born American Novelist
- Vladimir Horowitz Russian-born American Pianist
- Leo Rosten American Humorist
- Louise Erdrich American Author
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