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Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov Quotes

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Famous Isaac Asimov Quotes

“I do not use airplanes. They strike me as unsporting. You can have an automobile accident-and survive. You can be on a sinking ship-and survive. You can be in an earthquake, fire, volcanic eruption, tornado, what you will-and survive. But if your plane crashes, you do not survive. And I say the heck with it.”

IfsUseFunnyFireAccidentsStrikesShipsPlanesAviationAirplaneCrashAutomobileEarthquakesSinkingTornadoesEruptionPlane CrashesVolcanic Eruptions
Author:Isaac Asimov
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“Intelligence is an extremely subtle concept. It's a kind of understanding that flourishes if it's combined with a good memory, but exists anyway even in the absence of good memory. It's the ability to draw consequences from causes, to make correct inferences, to foresee what might be the result, to work out logical problems, to be reasonable, rational, to have the ability to understand the solution from perhaps insufficient information. You know when a person is intelligent, but you can be easily fooled if you are not yourself intelligent.”

IfsKnowsKindPersonsProblemMightScienceCausesUnderstandingMemoriesAbilityResultsInformationSolutionsDrawsConceptsConsequenceIntelligentWork OutAbsenceRationalReasonableSubtleLogicalFooledGood MemoriesInsufficientInference
Author:Isaac Asimov
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“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.”

IfsKnowsLifeEnoughMomentsUseWisdomChoicesUniverseWonderKnowledgeWiseIgnoranceMinesEternalGainsDestructionRemainsEndureIgnorantDullUnseenEternal LifeComprehensionAchillesSwirls
Author:Isaac Asimov
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“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.”

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Author:Isaac Asimov
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“The energy requirements for interstellar travel are so great that it is inconceivable to me that any creatures piloting their ships across the vast depths of space would do so only in order to play games with us over a period of decades. If they want to make contact, they would make contact; if not, they would save their energy and go elsewhere.”

IfsWantPlayOrderGamesEnergySpacePeriodsCreaturesDepthDecadesShipsContactElsewhereRequirementsUfoInterstellar
Book:The planet that wasn't
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“It is no defense of superstition and pseudoscience to say that it brings solace and comfort to people. . . . 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.”

PeopleIfsKindRunningReligionFallViolenceJudgingOughtComfortDrugBehaviorHorseDefenseAlcoholCrueltyAll KindsCardsSuperstitionsInterfereAddictTobaccoSolaceSociopathDrinkersPseudoscienceSmokers
Author:Isaac Asimov
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“Democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies.”

PeopleIfsWorldHumansMatterValuesDiesIndividualDemocracyDignityPopulationDisappearDeclineDecencyConvenienceHuman DignityValue Of LifePopulation GrowthOverpopulationPopulation ControlWorld PopulationHuman PopulationReproductive HealthSmart Growth
Author:Isaac Asimov
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“Increasingly, our leaders must deal with dangers that threaten the entire world, where an understanding of those dangers and the possible solutions depends on a good grasp of science. The ozone layer, the greenhouse effect, acid rain, questions of diet and heredity. All require scientific literacy. Can Americans choose the proper leaders and support the proper programs if they themselves are scientifically illiterate? The whole premise of democracy is that it is safe to leave important questions to the court of public opinion - but is it safe to leave them to the court of public ignorance?”

IfsWorldImportantWholeScienceUnderstandingDealsLeaderOpinionSupportDemocracyEffectsDangerIgnoranceDependsSafeSolutionsRainProgramCourtDietsLayersLiteracyPublic OpinionPremisesAcidIlliterateGreenhousesHeredityImportant QuestionsOzoneOzone LayerAcid Rain
Author:Isaac Asimov
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“How then to enforce peace? Not by reason, certainly, nor by education. If a man could not look at the fact of peace and the fact of war and choose the former in preference to the latter, what additional argument could persuade him? What could be more eloquent as a condemnation of war than war itself? What tremendous feat of dialectic could carry with it a tenth the power of a single gutted ship with its ghastly cargo?”

IfsMenLooksWarReasonFactsArgumentShipsFormerLatterPreferenceEloquentCondemnationFeatsGhastlyDialecticsCargo
Book:Triangle: The currents of space; Pebble in the sky; The stars, like dust
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“We mythologists know very well that myths and legends contain borrowings, moral lessons, nature cycles, and a hundred other distorting influences, and we labor to cut them away and get to what might be a kernel of truth. In fact, these same techniques must be applied to the most sober histories, for no one writes the clear and apparent truth-if such a thing can even be said to exist.”

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Book:Foundation and Earth
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