Isaac Asimov - Foundation (1951)

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It seems to me, Golan, that the advance of civilization is nothing but an exercise in the limiting of privacy.

Isaac Asimov
I have always dealt with economic forces, rather than philosophic forces, but you can't split history into neat little non-overlapping divisions. For instance, religions tend to accumulate wealth when successful and that eventually tends to distort the economic development of a society.

Isaac Asimov
I wanted to be a psychological engineer, but we lacked the facilities, so I did the next best thing - I went into politics. It's practically the same thing.

Isaac Asimov
It is better to go to defeat with free will than to live in a meaningless security as a cog in a machine.

Isaac Asimov
The temptation was great to muster what force we could and put up a fight. It's the easiest way out, and the most satisfactory to self-respect—but, nearly invariably, the stupidest.

Isaac Asimov
It is remarkable, Hardin, how the religion of science has grabbed hold.

Isaac Asimov
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.

Isaac Asimov
It's a poor atom blaster that won't point both ways.

Isaac Asimov
That insufferable, dull-witted donkey! That—
Hardin broke in: Not at all. He's merely the product of his environment. He doesn't understand much except that 'I got a gun and you ain't.'

Isaac Asimov
Where is the world whose people don't prefer a comfortable, warm, and well-worn belief, however illogical, to the chilly winds of uncertainty?

Isaac Asimov
I never considered myself a patriot. I like to think I recognize only humanity as my nation.

Isaac Asimov
For it is the chief characteristic of the religion of science, that it works, and that such curses as that of Aporat's are really deadly.

Isaac Asimov
Pelorat sighed. I will never understand people.
There's nothing to it. All you have to do is take a close look at yourself and you will understand everyone else. We're in no way different ourselves... You show me someone who can't understand people and I'll show you someone who has built up a false image of himself.

Isaac Asimov
Remarkable what a fragile flower romance is. A gun with a nervous operator behind it can spoil the whole thing.

Isaac Asimov
The fall of Empire, gentlemen, is a massive thing, however, and not easily fought. It is dictated by a rising bureaucracy, a receding initiative, a freezing of caste, a damming of curiosity — a hundred other factors. It has been going on, as I have said, for centuries, and it is too majestic and massive a movement to stop.

Isaac Asimov
Is not all this an extraordinary concatenation of coincidence?
Pelorat said, If you list it like that—
List it any way you please, said Trevize. I don't believe in extraordinary concatenations of coincidence.

Isaac Asimov
You are a valuable subject, Brodrig. You always suspect far more than is necessary, and I have but to take half your suggested precautions to be utterly safe.

Isaac Asimov
To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well.

Isaac Asimov
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.

Isaac Asimov
Ponyets! They sent you?
Pure chance, said Ponyets, bitterly, or the work of my own personal malevolent demon.

Isaac Asimov
It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.

Isaac Asimov
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.

Isaac Asimov
If you're born in a cubicle and grow up in a corridor, and work in a cell, and vacation in a crowded sun-room, then coming up into the open with nothing but sky over you might just give you a nervous breakdown.

Isaac Asimov
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