01c. 1956 ADIndividual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction -- its essence -- has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all.Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
02c. 1956 ADAnd [Asimov]'ll sign anything, hardbacks, softbacks, other people's books, scraps of paper. Inevitably someone handed him a blank check on the occasion when I was there, and he signed that without as much as a waver to his smile — except that he signed: 'Harlan Ellison.Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
04c. 1956 ADGood,” said the First Speaker. “And tell me, what do you think of all this. A finished work of art, is it not?”“Definitely!”“Wrong! It is not.” This, with sharpness. “It is the first lesson you must unlearn. The Seldon Plan is neither complete nor correct. Instead, it is merely the best that could be done at the time. Over a dozen generations of men have pored over these equations, worked at them, taken them apart to the last decimal place, and put them together again. They’ve done more than that. They’ve watched nearly four hundred years pass and against the predictions and equations, they’ve checked reality, and they have learned.Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
05c. 1956 AD...Changelessness is decay.""A paradox. There is no decay without a change for the worse.""Changelessness is a change for the worse...Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
06c. 1956 ADSome readers may realize that this story, first published in 1956, has been overtaken by events. In 1965, astronomers discovered that Mercury does not keep one side always to the Sun, but has a period of rotation of about fifty-four days, so that all parts of it are exposed to the sunlight at one time or another.Well, what can I do except say that I wish astronomers would get things right to begin with?And I certainly refuse to change the story to suit their whims.Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
07c. 1956 ADMr Baley", said Quemot, "you can't treat human emotions as though they were built about a positronic brain"."I'm not saying you can. Robotics is a deductive science and sociology an inductive one. But mathematics can be made to apply in either case.Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
08c. 1956 ADShe's qualified all right. She understands robots like a sister—comes from hating human beings so much, I think.Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
09c. 1956 ADIn the empty expanses of space, the wandering traders need men like myself to care for the spiritual side of a life so given over to commerce, and worldly pursuits.Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
10c. 1956 ADWhere 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 / quote ↗
12c. 1956 ADI tell you it's deadly when you start thinking your wife might be right.Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
13c. 1956 ADEven at the time, [he] felt his anger to be out of proportion to the cause, but it represented an accumulation of resentment.Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
14c. 1956 ADHow 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?Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
15c. 1956 ADThe human mind works at low efficiency. Twenty percent is the figure usually given. When, momentarily, there is a flash of greater power, it is termed a hunch, or insight, or intuition.Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
16c. 1956 ADGoodbye, Hari, my love. Remember always--all you did for me.” -I did nothing for you.” -You loved me and your love made me--human.Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
17c. 1956 ADTo insult someone we call him 'bestial'. For deliberate cruelty and nature, 'human' might be the greater insult.Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
18c. 1956 ADThere's probably no one so easily bribed, but he lacks even the fundamental honesty of honorable corruption. He doesn't stay bribed; not for any sum.Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
19c. 1956 ADWhy do you think it is stupid to go to windows instead of to doors?”“Because you advertise what you’re trying to hide, silly. If I have a secret, I don’t put tape over my mouth and let everyone know I have a secret. I talk just as much as usual, only about something else. Didn’t you ever read any of the sayings of Salvor Hardin? He was our first Mayor, you know.”“Yes, I know.”“Well, he used to say that only a lie that wasn’t ashamed of itself could possibly succeed. He also said that nothing had to be true, but everything had to sound true. Well, when you come in through a window, it’s a lie that’s ashamed of itself and it doesn’t sound true.”“Then what would you have done?”“If I had wanted to see my father on top secret business, I would have made his acquaintance openly and seen him about all sorts of strictly legitimate things. And then when everyone knew all about you and connected you with my father as a matter of course, you could be as top secret as you wanted and nobody would ever think of questioning it.Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
20c. 1956 ADBible: Various portions of it, when properly interpreted, contain a code of behaviour which many men consider best suited to the ultimate happiness of mankind.Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
21c. 1956 ADThe stars, like dust, encircle meIn living mists of light;And all of space I seem to seeIn one vast burst of sightIsaac Asimov / quote ↗
22c. 1956 ADIt will all stop someday, but not for billions of years. Many billions. Even the stars run down, you know. Entropy must increase.Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
24c. 1956 ADTo [the government] it didn't matter what happened to the American people as long as america in the abstract was kept strong.Isaac Asimov / quote ↗
