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It is the invariable lesson to humanity that distance in time, and in space as well, lends focus. It is not recorded, incidentally, that the lesson has ever been permanently learned.

— Isaac Asimov The Foundation series (1951)

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More quotes by Isaac Asimov

A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

The Three Laws of Robotics (1942)

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

Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988)

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

The Stars in Their Courses (1974)

A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

The Three Laws of Robotics (1942)

Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not.

All Isaac Asimov quotes →

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A generation which ignores history has no past —and no future.

Robert A. Heinlein Time Enough for Love (1973)

From now on, everything in life will appear blurry to me. What’s the point of wiping my glasses when my vision has already left me?"

Sanu Sharma

You can never plan the future by the past.

Edmund Burke A Letter to a Member of the National Assembly (1791)

Nothing is there to come, and nothing past,
But an eternal now does always last.

Abraham Cowley Poems (1656)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Isaac Asimov (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.