“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, quote from Foundation and Earth
“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.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Foundation and Earth
“Rules, established with reason and justice, can easily outlive their usefulness as circumstances change, yet can remain in force through inertia. It is then not only right, but useful, to break those rules as a way of advertising the fact that they have become useless—or even actually harmful.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Foundation and Earth
“Presumably, such is the folly of human beings, the prospects of intellectual suicide might not stop them from indulging their hatred,”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Foundation and Earth
“There are always individuals who pit their minds against the general modes of thought and who are arrogant enough to feel that they alone are right and that the many are wrong.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Foundation and Earth
“A planet might deteriorate even if human beings existed upon it, if the society were itself abnormal and did not understand the importance of preserving the environment."
"Surely," said Pelorat, "such a society would quickly be destroyed. I don't think it would be possible for human beings to fail to understand the importance of retaining the very factors that are keeping them alive."
Bliss said, "I don't have your pleasant faith in human reason, Pel. It seems to me to be quite conceivable that when a planetary society consists of Isolates, local and even individual concerns might easily by allowed to overcome planetary concerns.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Foundation and Earth
“That is beside the point. If we only obey those rules that we think are just and reasonable, then no rule will stand, for there is no rule that some will not think is unjust and unreasonable. And if we wish to push our own individual advantage, as we see it, then we will always find reason to believe that some hampering rule is unjust and unreasonable. What starts, then, as a shrewd trick ends in anarchy and disaster, even for the shrewd trickster, since he, too, will not survive the collapse of society.” Trevize”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Foundation and Earth
Isaac Asimov
Born place: in Petrovichi, Russian Federation
Born date January 2, 1920
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“Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.”
― Max Ehrmann, quote from Desiderata: Words For Life
“Zarife de kendine göre Yedigey'in iyiliğini istemiş ve bu konuda vicdanının sesine uymuştu. Bunun için Zarife'yi suçlamıyor, ona kızamıyordu. Zaten insan sevdiğine kızamazdı ki! Daha çok kendisini suçluyor, kendisini kusurlu buluyordu. Sevdiği kadın acı çekeceğine kendisi acı çeksindi. Bırakıp gitse bile onu hep sevgiyle anardı.”
― Chingiz Aitmatov, quote from The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years
“Life for me had already lost much of its pulp; the edges were collapsing into the center, and in that gap was the sympathy Peter had sought all his life and never got from anyone. Or perhaps "sympathy" was the wrong word; what he was telling me was more confirmation of what I already understood in biblical terms: the bad Peter, under the influence of the Devil, did horrible things. His honesty was evidence that the good Peter was finally triumphing over the bad one, because to me, that was the whole point of confession -- to figure out where you've gone wrong and to stop sinning.”
― Margaux Fragoso, quote from Tiger, Tiger: A Memoir
“She is all that is gracious, Her spirit is comely, The work of her hands is fair.”
― Ellen Kushner, quote from Thomas the Rhymer
“Worrying about offending people drags us back to the lowest common denominator
Our enemies are not the digital bits that dance across our screens but the neural impulses that animate our lizard brains”
― Brooke Gladstone, quote from The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media
Sweep in Peace
House of Suns
Triple Zero
A Brief History of S...
Age of Myth
The Hollow HillsBookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.
