Things do change. The only question is that since things are deteriorating so quickly, will society and man’s habits change quickly enough?
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Change
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: Writing, Writers, Authors & Writing
There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Science
When I feel difficulty coming on, I switch to another book I’m writing. When I get back to the problem, my unconscious has solved it.
—Isaac Asimov
At two-tenths the speed of light, dust and atoms might not do significant damage even in a voyage of 40 years, but the faster you go, the worse it is—space begins to become abrasive. When you begin to approach the speed of light, hydrogen atoms become cosmic-ray particles, and they will fry the crew. …So 60,000 kilometers per second may be the practical speed limit for space travel.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Space
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
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
An atom-blaster is a good weapon, but it can point both ways.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Weapon
The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing.
—Isaac Asimov
Jokes of the proper kind, properly told, can do more to enlighten questions of politics, philosophy, and literature than any number of dull arguments.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Humor, Arguments
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
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
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
I … am always glad to touch the living rock again and dip my hand in the high mountain air.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Teamwork, Success & Failure, Legacy, Women, Mathematics
The first law of dietetics seems to be if it tastes good, its bad for you.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Food
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
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
I am not a speed reader. I am a speed understander.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Reading, Books
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
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 endures 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
Topics: Wisdom
Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Thinking
If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.
—Isaac Asimov
Knowledge is indivisible. When people grow wise in one direction, they are sure to make it easier for themselves to grow wise in other directions as well. On the other hand, when they split up knowledge, concentrate on their own field, and scorn and ignore other fields, they grow less wise—even in their own field.
—Isaac Asimov
It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.
—Isaac Asimov
Topics: Manners, Communication
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
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, Goals, Focus
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
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
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
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 Children’s Books Writer
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