“The most hopelessly stupid man is he who is not aware he is wise.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“...all the suffering that humanity ever knew can be traced to the one fact that no man in the history of the Galaxy, until Hari Seldon, and very few men thereafter, could really understand one another. Every human being lived behind an impenetrable wall of choking mist within which no other but he existed. Occasionally there were the dim signals from deep within the cavern in which another man was located - so that each might grope toward the other. Yet because they did not know one another, and could not understand one another, and dared not trust one another, and felt from infancy the terrors and insecurity of that ultimate isolation - there was the hunted fear of man for man, the savage rapacity of man toward man.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“All roads lead to Trantor, and that is where all stars end.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“Galaxy! When can a man know he is not a puppet? How can a man know he is not a puppet?”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“In all the known history of Mankind, advances have been made primarily in physical technology; in the capacity of handling the inanimate world about Man. Control of self and society has been left to to chance or to the vague gropings of intuitive ethical systems based on inspiration and emotion. As a result no culture of greater stability than about fifty-five percent has ever existed, and these only as the result of great human misery.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“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”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“Speech, originally, was the device whereby Man learned, imperfectly, to transmit the thoughts and emotions of his mind. By setting up arbitrary sounds and combinations of sounds to represent certain mental nuances, he developed a method of communication - but one which in its clumsiness and thick-thumbed inadequacy degenerated all the delicacy of the mind into gross and guttural signaling”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“Only a lie that wasn't ashamed of itself could possibly succeed”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“...and he wreaked havoc among the buttered toast as he said it.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“Feet, for tens of thousands of years, had clogged and shuffled in the mud – and held down the minds which, for an equal time, had been fit for the companionship of the stars.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“Stoop, then, or you will be beaten to your knees. Stoop voluntarily, and you may save a remnant. You have depended on metal and power and they have sustained you as far as they could. You have ignored mind and morale and they have failed you.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“Where history concerns mainly personalities, the drawings become either black or white according to the interests of the writer.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“The most hopelessly stupid man is he who is not aware that he is wise.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“Psychohistory was the quintessence of sociology; it was the science of human behavior reduced to mathematical equations. The individual human being is unpredictable, but the reactions of human mobs, Seldon found, could be treated statistically.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“Yet because they did not know one another, and could not understand one another, and dared not trust one another, and felt from infancy the terrors and insecurity of that ultimate isolation — there was the hunted fear of man for man, the savage rapacity of man toward man”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“Down—down—the results can be followed; and all the suffering that humanity ever knew can be traced to the one fact that no man in the history of the Galaxy, until Hari Seldon, and very few men thereafter, could really understand one another. Every human being lived behind an impenetrable wall of choking mist within which no other but he existed. Occasionally there were the dim signals from deep within the cavern in which another man was located—so that each might grope toward the other. Yet because they did not know one another, and could not understand one another, and dared not trust one another, and felt from infancy the terrors and insecurity of that ultimate isolation—there was the hunted fear of man for man, the savage rapacity of man toward man.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“Galaxy! When can a man know he is not a puppet? How can a man know he is not a puppet? Arcadia”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“Why 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 from Second Foundation
“Good,” 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 from Second Foundation
“Agitation from the other side of the desk.
“No—now you must take this phlegmatically. You had hoped you would qualify. You had feared you would not. Actually, both hope and fear are weaknesses. You knew you would qualify and you hesitate to admit the fact because such knowledge might stamp you as cocksure and therefore unfit. Nonsense! The most hopelessly stupid man is he who is not aware that he is wise. It is part of your qualification that you knew you would qualify.”
Relaxation on the other side of the desk.
“Exactly. Now you feel better and your guard is down. You are fitter to concentrate and fitter to understand. Remember, to be truly effective, it is not necessary to hold the mind under a tight, controlling barrier which to the intelligent probe is as informative as a naked mentality. Rather, one should cultivate an innocence, an awareness of self, and an unselfconsciousness of self which leaves one nothing to hide. My mind is open to you. Let this be so for both of us.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“It’s always easy to explain the unknown by postulating a superhuman and arbitrary will.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“He never created a finish product. Finished products are for decadent minds. His was an evolving mechanism and the Second Foundation was the instrument of that evolution.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“It was a sign of decaying culture, of course, that dams had been built against the further development of ideas.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“the intruder was an obviously mature thirty, at least—quite elderly, in fact.)”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“only a lie that wasn’t ashamed of itself could possibly succeed.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
“El hombre más redomadamente estúpido es aquel que ignora su sabiduría.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Second Foundation
Isaac Asimov
Born place: in Petrovichi, Russian Federation
Born date January 2, 1920
See more on GoodReads
“They honestly wouldn’t do the operation if you couldn’t find a way to pay for it?” “That’s right. They run a business, Liz, they can’t just be giving it away.” “That’s what you get for going to the University of Michigan Hospital.” “I know the Spartan in you can’t stand it, but you have to admit U of M has one of the best hospitals around.” “Okay, I admit it, grudgingly, but only because State doesn’t have a hospital of their own. If they did, I’m sure it’d be better.”
― Mara Jacobs, quote from Worth the Weight
“Let go, Rachel. Let go, and lie down with me. Close your eyes, and forget everything. Tomorrow will be here soon enough, and you can argue with me then.”
― Ella Frank, quote from Edible
“_عندما يتورط المرء في نشاط غير مشروع , يعتقد انه اذا استطاع ان اقناع الاخرين بالانضمام اليه فان ذلك سيخفف شعوره بالذنب.”
― Zig Ziglar, quote from See You at the Top
“...you're either gonna spend your life fucking pussy, or taking it to church.”
― Dave Matthes, quote from Bar Nights (The Mire Man Trilogy, #1)
“Pain was not God’s plan for this life. It is a reality, but it is not part of the plan.” I”
― Ted Dekker, quote from Kiss
Witches on Parole
Simply Irresistible
The Selected Works o...
The Thing About the...
The Blight of Muirwo...
Ancient LightBookQuoters 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.
