WIST Quotations

Asimov, Isaac -- “A Cult of Ignorance,” Newsweek (1980-01-21)

Dave — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 18:45:37 +0000

There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. 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.”

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
“A Cult of Ignorance,” Newsweek (1980-01-21)
(Source)

More discussion on this quotation here and here.

Asimov, Isaac -- “A Cult of Ignorance,” Newsweek (21 Jan 1980)

Dave — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 20:31:41 +0000

I believe that every human being with a physically normal brain can learn a great deal and can be surprisingly intellectual. I believe that what we badly need is social approval of learning and social rewards for learning. We can all be members of the intellectual elite and then, and only then, will a phrase like “America’s right to know” and, indeed, any true concept of democracy, have any meaning.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
“A Cult of Ignorance,” Newsweek (21 Jan 1980)
(Source)

Asimov, Isaac -- “Bridle and Saddle,” Astounding (Jun 1942)

Dave — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 18:56:09 +0000

“Violence,” came the retort, “is the last refuge of the incompetent.”

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
“Bridle and Saddle,” Astounding (Jun 1942)

Retitled "The Mayors" in Foundation (1951). The phrase appears multiple times in the story. See Johnson.

Asimov, Isaac -- “Editorial: The Reluctant Critic,” Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine (12 Nov 1978)

Dave — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 20:24:19 +0000

Seeing a rotten picture for the special effects is like eating a tough steak for the smothered onions, or reading a bad book for the dirty parts. Optical wizardry is something a movie can do that a book can’t but it is no substitute for a story, for logic, for meaning. It is ornamentation, not substance. In fact, whenever a science fiction picture is praised overeffusively for its special effects, I know it’s a bad picture. Is that all they can find to talk about?

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
“Editorial: The Reluctant Critic,” Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine (12 Nov 1978)
(Source)

Writing about Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Asimov, Isaac -- “My Own View,” The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction [ed. Robert Holdstock] (1978)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

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.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
“My Own View,” The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction [ed. Robert Holdstock] (1978)

Asimov, Isaac -- “Science: Beginning with Bone,” Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (May 1987)

Dave — Tue, 24 May 2016 13:31:49 +0000

All life is nucleic acid; the rest is commentary.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
“Science: Beginning with Bone,” Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (May 1987)

Asimov, Isaac -- “Seven Steps to Grand Master,” Nebula Awards 22 (1988) [ed. G. Zebrowski]

Dave — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 21:07:43 +0000

I suppose he’s entitled to his opinion, but I don’t suppose it very hard.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
“Seven Steps to Grand Master,” Nebula Awards 22 (1988) [ed. G. Zebrowski]

Asimov, Isaac -- “The ‘Threat’ of Creationism,” New York Times Magazine (14 Jun 1981)

Dave — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:48:48 +0000

To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
“The ‘Threat’ of Creationism,” New York Times Magazine (14 Jun 1981)

Asimov, Isaac -- “The Never-ending Fight,” The Humanist (Mar/Apr 1989)

Dave — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 16:42:18 +0000

It is no defense of superstition and pseudoscience to say that it brings solace and comfort to people, and that therefore we “elitists” should not claim to know better and to take it away from the less sophisticated. If solace and comfort are how we judge the worth of something, then consider that tobacco brings solace and comfort to smokers; alcohol brings it to drinkers; drugs of all kinds bring it to addicts; the fall of cards and the run of horses bring it to gamblers; cruelty and violence bring it to sociopaths. Judge by solace and comfort only and there is no behavior we ought to interfere with.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
“The Never-ending Fight,” The Humanist (Mar/Apr 1989)
(Source)

Asimov, Isaac -- “The Planet that Wasn’t,” The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (May 1975)

Dave — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 17:40:38 +0000

People are entirely too disbelieving of coincidence. They are far too ready to dismiss it and to build arcane structures of extremely rickety substance in order to avoid it.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
“The Planet that Wasn’t,” The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (May 1975)
(Source)

Asimov, Isaac -- “The Relativity of Wrong” (1996)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The young specialist in English Lit, … lectured me severely on the fact that in every century people have thought they understood the Universe at last, and in every century they were proved to be wrong. It follows that the one thing we can say about our modern “knowledge” is that it is wrong.
… My answer to him was, “… when people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together.”

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
“The Relativity of Wrong” (1996)

Asimov, Isaac -- “The Role of the Heretic,” Foreword to Donald W. Goldsmith (ed.), Scientists Confront Velikovsky (1977)

Dave — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 18:50:47 +0000

Science is in far greater danger from the absence of challenge than from the coming of any number of even absurd challenges.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
“The Role of the Heretic,” Foreword to Donald W. Goldsmith (ed.), Scientists Confront Velikovsky (1977)
(Source)

Asimov, Isaac -- “The Tyrannosaurus Prescription”

Dave — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 14:13:32 +0000

Anger is the common substitute for logic among those who have no evidence for what they desperately want to believe.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
“The Tyrannosaurus Prescription”

Asimov, Isaac -- “Your Future As A Writer,” Writer’s Digest (May 1986)

Dave — Tue, 07 Jan 2020 21:52:35 +0000

H.G. Wells said that history was a race between education and catastrophe, and it may be that the writer will add just sufficient impetus to education to enable it to outrace catastrophe. And if education wins by even the narrowest of margins, how much more can we ask for?

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
“Your Future As A Writer,” Writer’s Digest (May 1986)
(Source)

See referenced quotation by Wells.

Asimov, Isaac -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
(Attributed)

Asimov, Isaac -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” but “That’s funny…”

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
(Attributed)

Unsourced. More information here.

Asimov, Isaac -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

I am completely convinced that hell does not exist except in the minds of pious sadists.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
(Attributed)

Asimov, Isaac -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 19:49:28 +0000

I don’t long for the good old days when there was no servant problem. Back in those days, I’d have been a servant.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
(Attributed)

Asimov, Isaac -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:44:30 +0000

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
(Attributed)

Asimov, Isaac -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 14:06:35 +0000

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 (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
(Attributed)

Quoted in Janet Asimov, It's Been a Good Life (2002)

Asimov, Isaac -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 13:16:49 +0000

To rebel against a powerful political, economic, religious, or social establishment is very dangerous and very few people do it, except, perhaps, as part of a mob. To rebel against the “scientific” establishment, however, is the easiest thing in the world, and anyone can do it and feel enormously brave, without risking as much as a hangnail. Thus, the vast majority, who believe in astrology and think that the planets have nothing better to do than form a code that will tell them whether tomorrow is a good day to close a business deal or not, become all the more excited and enthusiastic about the bilge when a group of astronomers denounces it.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
(Attributed)

Asimov, Isaac -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 02:50:27 +0000

Thinking is the activity I love best, and writing to me is simply thinking through my fingers. I can write up to 18 hours a day. Typing 90 words a minute, I’ve done better than 50 pages a day. Nothing interferes with my concentration. You could put an orgy in my office and I wouldn’t look up — well, maybe once or twice.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
(Attributed)

Asimov, Isaac -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 14:45:31 +0000

Maybe happiness is this: not feeling like you should be elsewhere, doing something else, being someone else.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
(Attributed)

Asimov, Isaac -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 14:11:09 +0000

There seems to be a feeling that anything that is natural is good. Strychnine is natural.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
(Attributed)

Asimov, Isaac -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 21:26:55 +0000

Any book worth banning is a book worth reading.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
(Attributed)

Asimov, Isaac -- (Spurious)

Dave — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 15:13:13 +0000

Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
(Spurious)

Sometimes quoted without the initial "Those".

The citationless attribution of this quip to Asimov cannot be traced back further than 2001, several years after his death. The earliest version found is a filler item in The Saturday Evening Post (6 May 1961), attributed to humor columnist Harold Coffin: "The fellow who thinks he knows it all is especially annoying to those of us who do."

More discussion here: The Fellow Who Thinks He Knows It All Is Especially Annoying To Those of Us Who Do – Quote Investigator.

Asimov, Isaac -- Asimov’s Guide to Science (1972)

Dave — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 21:36:10 +0000

Inspect every piece of pseudoscience and you will find a security blanket, a thumb to suck, a skirt to hold. What does the scientist have to offer in exchange? Uncertainty! Insecurity!

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Asimov’s Guide to Science (1972)

Asimov, Isaac -- Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare, “Henry VI, Part One” (1970)

Dave — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 22:18:23 +0000

This is an example of what those who have studied history well know: When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare, “Henry VI, Part One” (1970)

Referring to Sir John Fastolfe at the Battle of Patay, as retold in the play. Seeing that their retreating and outnumbered army was in danger of destruction, Fastolfe, a tested commander, urged the army's leader, Talbot, to hasten the retreat, saving the army for more effective use later. Talbot insisted on standing and fighting, and his forces were defeated, one of a series of military disasters outlined in the first scene of the play. But the play presents it as Talbot being a brave, patriotic hero, and Fastolfe (sometimes rendered "Falstaff") being a traitorous coward.

Asimov, Isaac -- Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare, “Henry VI, Part III” (1970)

Dave — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 21:31:30 +0000

He is onstage now to die, unrepentant to the last, and breathing the belief of all extremists always — that all misfortune comes from compromise and that only unyieldingness can win out.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare, “Henry VI, Part III” (1970)
(Source)

Regarding Clifford, the Lancastrian fanatic, in Act 2, sc. 6.

Asimov, Isaac -- Familiar Poems Annotated, “Robert Frost, ‘Fire and Ice'” (1977)

Dave — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 20:58:50 +0000

His poetry seems to please the critics, and because it is plain-spoken, rhymes and scans, it pleases human beings as well.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Familiar Poems Annotated, “Robert Frost, ‘Fire and Ice'” (1977)
(Source)

Asimov, Isaac -- Familiar Poems, Annotated, “Miniver Cheevy” (1977)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

We have only a slim chance of getting through the problems that face us now, but if too many Miniver Cheevys sit back to drink and long for a non-existent past, that slim chance will decrease to zero.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Familiar Poems, Annotated, “Miniver Cheevy” (1977)

Asimov, Isaac -- Fantasy & Science Fiction (in answer to Clarke’s First Law) (1977)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

When, however, the lay public rallies round an idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly scientists and supports that idea with great fervor and emotion — the distinguished but elderly scientists are then, after all, probably right.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Fantasy & Science Fiction (in answer to Clarke’s First Law) (1977)

See Clarke.

Asimov, Isaac -- Foundation and Empire, ch. 22 (1952)

Dave — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 19:33:54 +0000

Boasts are wind and deeds are hard.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Foundation and Empire, ch. 22 (1952)
(Source)

Asimov, Isaac -- Foundation’s Edge, ch. 12 “Agent” (1982)

Dave — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 12:53:57 +0000

Once you get it into your head that somebody is controlling events, you can interpret everything in that light and find no reasonable certainty anywhere.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Foundation’s Edge, ch. 12 “Agent” (1982)

Asimov, Isaac -- Foundation’s Edge, Part 1, ch. 1 (1982)

Dave — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 16:28:05 +0000

At odd and unpredictable times, we cling in fright to the past.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Foundation’s Edge, Part 1, ch. 1 (1982)
(Source)

Asimov, Isaac -- Foundation, ch. 2 (1942)

Dave — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 17:11:03 +0000

It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Foundation, ch. 2 (1942)
(Source)

Epigram attributed to Salvor Hardin.

Asimov, Isaac -- Foundation, Part 4 “The Traders,” ch. 1, epigraph (1951)

Dave — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 17:14:12 +0000

Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right!

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Foundation, Part 4 “The Traders,” ch. 1, epigraph (1951)
(Source)

Motto of Salvor Hardin, as mentioned in the "Traders" entry in the Encyclopedia Galactica.

This part of the book was originally published as "The Wedge," Astounding Science-Fiction (1944-10), where the Salvor Hardin quote alone appears as the epigraph.

Asimov, Isaac -- Foundation, Part 5 “The Merchant Princes,” Sec. 13 (1951)

Dave — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 21:45:47 +0000

Now any dogma, based primarily on faith and emotionalism, is a dangerous weapon to use on others, since it is almost impossible to guarantee that the weapon will never be turned on the user.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Foundation, Part 5 “The Merchant Princes,” Sec. 13 (1951)

Asimov, Isaac -- Free Inquiry (Spring 1982)

Dave — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:38:32 +0000

I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I’ve been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn’t have. Somehow, it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I’m a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally, I am an atheist. I don’t have the evidence to prove that God doesn’t exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn’t that I don’t want to waste my time.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Free Inquiry (Spring 1982)

Asimov, Isaac -- Free Inquiry (Spring 1982)

Dave — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 19:49:43 +0000

I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I’ve been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn’t have. Somehow it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I’m a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally I am an atheist. I don’t have the evidence to prove that God doesn’t exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn’t that I don’t want to waste my time.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Free Inquiry (Spring 1982)

Asimov, Isaac -- Gold: The Final Science Fiction Collection, Part III, ch 10 “Book Reviews” (2003)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

From my close observation of writers (almost all my friends are writers) they fall into two groups: 1) those who bleed copiously and visibly at any bad review, and 2) those who bleed copiously and secretly at any bad review.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Gold: The Final Science Fiction Collection, Part III, ch 10 “Book Reviews” (2003)

Full text.

Asimov, Isaac -- I, Asimov: A Memoir (1994)

Dave — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 19:08:59 +0000

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
I, Asimov: A Memoir (1994)

Asimov, Isaac -- I, Asimov: A Memoir (1994)

Dave — Wed, 10 Aug 2016 03:08:02 +0000

He always pictured himself a libertarian, which to my way of thinking means “I want the liberty to grow rich and you can have the liberty to starve”. It’s easy to believe that no one should depend on society for help when you yourself happen not to need such help.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
I, Asimov: A Memoir (1994)

Asimov, Isaac -- I, Asimov, ch. 73 “Letters” (1979)

Dave — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 15:55:14 +0000

Once, when a religionist denounced me in unmeasured terms, I sent him a card saying, “I am sure you believe that I will go to hell when I die, and that once there I will suffer all the pains and tortures the sadistic ingenuity of your deity can devise and that this torture will continue forever. Isn’t that enough for you? Do you have to call me bad names in addition?”

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
I, Asimov, ch. 73 “Letters” (1979)
(Source)

Asimov, Isaac -- Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Questions (1988) [with Jason A. Schulman]

Dave — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 01:15:59 +0000

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Questions (1988) [with Jason A. Schulman]

Asimov, Isaac -- Nemesis, “Author’s Note” (1989)

Dave — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 16:26:04 +0000

I made up my mind long ago to follow one cardinal rule in all my writing — to be clear. I have given up all thought of writing poetically or symbolically or experimentally, or in any of the other modes that might (if I were good enough) get me a Pulitzer prize. I would write merely clearly and in this way establish a warm relationship between myself and my readers, and the professional critics — Well, they can do whatever they wish.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Nemesis, “Author’s Note” (1989)
(Source)

Asimov, Isaac -- Nightfall (1990) [with Robert Silverberg]

Dave — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 16:53:53 +0000

So the universe is not quite as you thought it was. You’d better rearrange your beliefs, then. Because you certainly can’t rearrange the universe.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Nightfall (1990) [with Robert Silverberg]
(Source)

Asimov, Isaac -- Quasar, Quasar, Burning Bright (1978)

Dave — Tue, 17 May 2016 20:48:23 +0000

I believe that only scientists can understand the universe. It is not so much that I have confidence in scientists being right, but that I have so much in nonscientists being wrong.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Quasar, Quasar, Burning Bright (1978)

Asimov, Isaac -- Science Past, Science Future (1975)

Dave — Thu, 09 Sep 2021 15:03:15 +0000

Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is. The only function of a school is to make self-education easier; failing that, it does nothing.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Science Past, Science Future (1975)
(Source)

Asimov, Isaac -- The Caves of Steel, Introduction (novel 1954, intro 1983)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Any technological advance can be dangerous. Fire was dangerous from the start, and so (even more so) was speech — and both are still dangerous to this day — but human beings would not be human without them.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
The Caves of Steel, Introduction (novel 1954, intro 1983)

Asimov, Isaac -- The Caves of Steel, Introduction (novel 1954, intro 1983)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

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 (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
The Caves of Steel, Introduction (novel 1954, intro 1983)

Asimov, Isaac -- The Gods Themselves, Sec. 3, ch. 12 (1972)

Dave — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 04:15:20 +0000

You know that prudery is only the other side of prurience. The words are even on the same page in the dictionary.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
The Gods Themselves, Sec. 3, ch. 12 (1972)

Asimov, Isaac -- The Gods Themselves, Sec. 3, ch. 19 (1972)

Dave — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 00:06:12 +0000

There are no happy endings in history, only crisis points that pass.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
The Gods Themselves, Sec. 3, ch. 19 (1972)

Asimov, Isaac -- The Roving Mind (1983)

Dave — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:33:57 +0000

Don’t you believe in flying saucers, they ask me? Don’t you believe in telepathy? — in ancient astronauts? — in the Bermuda triangle? — in life after death?
No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no.
One person recently, goaded into desperation by the litany of unrelieved negation, burst out “Don’t you believe in anything?”
“Yes,” I said. “I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I’ll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.”

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
The Roving Mind (1983)

Asimov, Isaac -- The Roving Mind (1983)

Dave — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:03:53 +0000

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 (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
The Roving Mind (1983)

Asimov, Isaac -- The Roving Mind (1983)

Dave — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 00:59:26 +0000

Don’t you believe in flying saucers, they ask me? Don’t you believe in telepathy? — in ancient astronauts? — in the Bermuda triangle? — in life after death?

No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no.

One person recently, goaded into desperation by the litany of unrelieved negation, burst out “Don’t you believe in anything?”

“Yes”, I said. “I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I’ll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.”

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
The Roving Mind (1983)

See Carl Sagan.

Asimov, Isaac -- The Stars in Their Courses (1974)

Dave — Tue, 03 May 2016 20:32:56 +0000

There is no belief, however foolish, that will not gather its faithful adherents who will defend it to the death.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
The Stars in Their Courses (1974)

Asimov, Isaac -- Commencement speech, Connecticut College (1975-05-25)

Dave — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 15:01:43 +0000

The day you stop learning is the day you begin decaying, and then you are no longer a human being.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Commencement speech, Connecticut College (1975-05-25)
(Source)

Quoted in Peter Smith, ed., Onward! 25 Years of Advice, Exhortation, and Inspiration from America's Best Commencement Speeches (2000).

Asimov, Isaac -- Essay (1975-05), “The Planet That Wasn’t,” Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Vol. 48, No. 5

Dave — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:16:15 +0000

People are entirely too disbelieving of coincidence. They are far too ready to dismiss it and to build arcane structures of extremely rickety substance in order to avoid it. I, on the other hand, see coincidence everywhere as an inevitable consequence of the laws of probability, according to which having no unusual coincidence is far more unusual than any coincidence could possibly be.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Essay (1975-05), “The Planet That Wasn’t,” Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Vol. 48, No. 5
(Source)

Collected in The Planet That Wasn't (1976).

Asimov, Isaac -- Interview (1988) by Bill Moyers, A World of Ideas, PBS TV (1988-10-22)

Dave — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 19:38:57 +0000

Science doesn’t purvey absolute truth. Science is a mechanism. It’s a way of trying to improve your knowledge of nature. It’s a system for testing your thoughts against the universe and seeing whether they match. And this works, not just for the ordinary aspects of science, but for all of life. I should think people would want to know that what they know is truly what the universe is like, or at least as close as they can get to it.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Interview (1988) by Bill Moyers, A World of Ideas, PBS TV (1988-10-22)
(Source)

(Source (Video))

Part 2 of the interview (the first half aired 1988-10-17). Collected in Bill Moyers, A World of Ideas (1989).

Asimov, Isaac -- Interview on “All Things Considered,” NPR, in Susan Stamberg, Every Night at Five (1982)

Dave — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 14:03:39 +0000

Rituals? Ridiculous! My only ritual is to sit close enough to the typewriter so that my fingers touch the keys.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Interview on “All Things Considered,” NPR, in Susan Stamberg, Every Night at Five (1982)
(Source)

Asimov, Isaac -- Interview, Life (Jan 1984)

Dave — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:02:48 +0000

If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Interview, Life (Jan 1984)

In Asimov Laughs Again (1992), he phrased it this way: "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.'"

Asimov, Isaac -- Letter to Stanley Asimov (13 Apr 1969)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

I don’t subscribe to the thesis, “Let the buyer beware.” I prefer the disregarded one that goes, “Let the seller be honest.”‘

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Letter to Stanley Asimov (13 Apr 1969)

In Stanley Asimov, Yours, Isaac Asimov, A Lifetime of Letters, ch. 38 "Modesty, Honest, and Other Traits" (1995)

Asimov, Isaac -- Quoted in Janet Jeppson Asimov, Notes for a Memoir: On Isaac Asimov, Life, and Writing (2006)

Dave — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 18:51:14 +0000

If you suspect that my interest in the Bible is going to inspire me with sudden enthusiasm for Judaism and make me a convert of mountain‐moving fervor and that I shall suddenly grow long earlocks and learn Hebrew and go about denouncing the heathen — you little know the effect of the Bible on me. Properly read, it is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Quoted in Janet Jeppson Asimov, Notes for a Memoir: On Isaac Asimov, Life, and Writing (2006)
(Source)