336 quotes
If you're going to write a story, avoid contemporary references. They date a story and they have no staying power.
Buy Jupiter and Other Stories (1975)
Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.
Hypocrisy is a universal phenomenon. It ends with death, but not before.
That is the most stupid thing yet. I tell you that I could despair of human intelligence when I see what can exist in men’s minds.
Empire novels (1950)
You’re naïve Hari. Or not a historian, which is the same thing.
The Foundation series (1951)
Straightforward preaching spoils the effectiveness of a story. If you can't resist the impulse to improve your fellow human beings, do it subtly.
Buy Jupiter and Other Stories (1975)
Walking is still the best form of short-distance transportation. It’s the most convenient, the cheapest, and the most healthful, Countless years of technological advance have not changed that.
The Foundation series (1951)
The newsmen were writing down sentences busily as Hoskins spoke to them. They did not understand and they were sure their readers would not, but it sounded scientific and that was what counted.
The Complete Stories, Volume 1 (1990)
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.
The Roving Mind (1983)
I suppose he's entitled to his opinion, but I don't suppose it very hard.
It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.
The Foundation series (1951)
“Violence,” came the retort, “is the last refuge of the incompetent.”
The Foundation series (1951)
I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it.
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.
The Foundation series (1951)
A fire eater must eat fire even if he has to kindle it himself.
The Foundation series (1951)
He is energetic only in evading responsibility.
The Foundation series (1951)
I've lived most of my life already and I suppose I can argue myself into believing that I have no great cause to love humanity. However, only a few people have hurt me, and if I hurt everyone in return that is unconscionable usury.
The Gods Themselves (1972)
It is only afterward that a new idea seems reasonable. To begin with, it usually seems unreasonable.
How Do People Get New Ideas? (1959)
Once you've dissected a joke, you're about where you are when you've dissected a frog. It's dead.
Banquets of the Black Widowers (1984)
There is more to a science fiction story than the science it contains. There is also the story.
Robot Dreams (1986)