Quotes from The Gods Themselves

“There are no happy endings in history, only crisis points that pass.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“It is a mistake," he said, " to suppose that the public wants the environment protected or their lives saved and that they will be grateful to any idealist who will fight for such ends. What the public wants is their own individual comfort. We know that well enough from our experience in the environmental crisis of the twentieth century. Once it was well known that cigarettes increased the incidence of lung cancer, the obvious remedy was to stop smoking, but the desired remedy was a cigarette that did not cause cancer. When it became clear that the internal-combustion engine was polluting the atmosphere dangerously, the obvious remedy was to abandon such engines, and the desired remedy was to develop non-polluting engines.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“Author's Note: This story starts with section 6. This is not a mistake. I have my own subtle reasoning. So, just read, and enjoy.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“Does everyone just believe what he wants to?"

"As long as possible. Sometimes longer."

"What about you?"

"You mean, am I human? Certainly. I don't believe I'm really old. I believe I'm quite attractive. I believe you seek out my company because you think I'm charming - even when you insist on turning the conversation to physics.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“You don't beat refusal to believe in a frontal attack.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“Contra la estupidez, los propios dioses luchan en vano”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“It is a mistake,” he said, “to suppose that the public wants the environment protected or their lives saved and that they will be grateful to any idealist who will fight for such ends. What the public wants is their own individual comfort.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“you can’t just move backward. You can’t push the chicken back into the egg, wine back into the grape, the boy back into the womb. If you want the baby to let go of your watch, you don’t just try to explain that he ought to do it—you offer him something he would rather have.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“ Who?”
“Schiller. A German dramatist of three centuries ago. In a play about Joan of Arc, he said, ‘Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.’ I’m no god and I’ll contend no longer. Let it go, Pete, and go your way. Maybe the world will last our time and, if not, there’s nothing that can be done anyway. I’m sorry, Pete. You fought the good fight, but you lost, and I’m through.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“On Earth, we are unmanned by our longing for a pastoral past that never really existed; and that, if it had existed, could never exist again...on the Moon, there is no past to long for or dream about. There is no direction but forward.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“La forma más fácil de solucionar un problema es negar su existencia.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“Of such things, petty annoyance and aimless thrusts, is history made.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“His idiot face gets redder and his eyes bulge and his ears block. I’d say his mind stops functioning, but I lack the proof of any other state from which it might stop.” Bronowski”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“Schiller. A German dramatist of three centuries ago. In a play about Joan of Arc, he said, ‘Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.’ I’m no god and I’ll contend no longer.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“É realmente muito desanimadora essa estupidez universal. Acho que eu não sofreria tanto se o suicídio da humanidade resultasse apenas de pura maldade de coração ou por mera inconsequência. Mas é de uma falha tão desgraçada de dignidade, que estamos a ponto de nos destruir como fruto da mais obtusa e impenetrável estupidez.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“Evet. Bu çok garip ama gerçekten özlemiyorum. Mavi göğü, yeşil kırları, akan suları özleyeceğimden emindim. Arza özgü bütün bu nitelikleri. Ama hiç birini de özlemiyorum. Onları rüyamda bile görmüyorum."
Selene, "Bazen öyle şeyler oluyor" dedi. "Daha doğrusu vatan özlemi çekmediklerini söyleyen bazı Göççülerle karşılaştım. Tabii öyleleri az. Ve hiç kimse bu küçük grubun müşterek özelliklerini anlayamıyor. Tabii türlü tahminler yürütülüyor. Kimisi bu Göççülerde ciddi bir duygusuzluk olduğunu, onların hiçbir şey hissedemediklerini söylüyor. Kimisi ise fazla duygulu olduklarını ve sinir krizi geçirmekten korktukları için vatan hasreti duyduklarını itiraftan kaçındıklarını.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“Bu yaygın budalalık insanın cesaretini kırıyor. Galiba insanlığın sırf kötü kalpli ve pervasız olduğu için intihar etmesine üzülmeyeceğim. Kalın kafalılık ve ahmaklık yüzünden ölmek pek vakarsızca bir şey. Madem böyle öleceksin o zaman insan olmanın ne yararı var?”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“—Es un error —comenzó— suponer que la opinión pública quiere que se proteja el medioambiente o que les salven la vida y que, por tanto, se mostrarían muy agradecidos ante cualquier idealista que luche por conseguir esos objetivos. Lo que el público quiere es bienestar individual.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“U istoriji ne postoje srećni završeci, postoje samo krizne tačke koje odu u prošlost.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“Who?”
“Schiller. A German dramatist of three centuries ago. In a play about Joan of Arc, he said, ‘Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.’ I’m no god and I’ll contend no longer. Let it go, Pete, and go your way. Maybe the world will last our time and, if not, there’s nothing that can be done anyway. I’m sorry, Pete. You fought the good fight, but you lost, and I’m through.”

It worked perfectly. The Obin had enough time for a surprised squawk before the hovercraft’s gun struck it square in the chest, punching backward like it was a toy on a string, hurling down nearly the entire length of the hall. The other Obin in the room looked up while Harvey’s victim pinwheeled to the ground, then turned their multiple eyes toward the doorway, Harvey, and the hovercraft with its big gun poking right into the room.
“Hello, boys!” Harvey said in a big, booming voice. “The 2nd Platoon sends its regards!” And with that, he jammed down the “fire” button on the gun and set to work.
Things got messy real fast after that. It was just fucking beautiful.
Harvey loved his job.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“Contra la estupidez, los propios dioses luchan en vano.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“en la Historia no hay finales felices, solo momentos críticos que se superan.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“Você sabe que o pudor é somente o outro lado da lascívia.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“And one day he said, "I'm going to see Hallam again."
Bronowski's eyebrows lifted. "What for?"
"To have him turn me down."
"Yes, that's about your speed, Pete. You're unhappy if your troubles die down a bit.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“There's a certain drama in going down in a good cause.
Any decent politician is masochistic enough to dream now and then of going down in flames while the
angels sing. But, -Dr. Lamont, to do that one has to have a fighting chance. One has to have something to
fight for that may— justmay— win out.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“Schiller. A German dramatist of three centuries ago. In a play about Joan of Arc, he said, ‘Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“There was something I tried to put in, Gottstein, but between my not knowing how to phrase it and
Earth's reluctance to grasp my meaning, we ended up not communicating.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“Any decent politician is masochistic enough to dream now and then of going down in flames while the angels sing.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“Once it was well known that cigarettes increased the incidence of lung cancer, the obvious remedy was to stop smoking, but the desired remedy was a cigarette that did not encourage cancer. When it became clear that the internal-combustion engine was polluting the atmosphere dangerously, the obvious remedy was to abandon such engines, and the desired remedy was to develop non-polluting engines.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

“En cualquier caso, en la Historia no hay finales felices, solo momentos críticos que se superan.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Gods Themselves

About the author

Popular quotes

“When a warrior fights not for himself, but for his brothers, when his most passionately sought goal is neither glory nor his own life’s preservation, but to spend his substance for them, his comrades, not to abandon them, not to prove unworthy of them, then his heart truly has achieved contempt for death, and with that he transcends himself and his actions touch the sublime.”
― Steven Pressfield, quote from Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae

“مگر غیر از چند اسم، چیز دیگری برای آنها عوض‌شده بود؟ مگر این چشم‌انداز با زمین تفته خشک و آسمان سربی‌اش مثل همیشه نبود؟ مگر به‌رغم سال‌ها خشک‌سالی این منطقه باز در تلاش این نبود که زخم‌هایش را مرهمی بگذارد، بر مردگانش مویه کند و آنچه ویران‌شده بود دوباره به زندگی برگرداند؟ حالا که رئیس‌جمهور به‌جای امپراتور نشسته بود، در کشور مصیبت‌زده چه چیزی عوض‌شده بود؟”
― Mario Vargas Llosa, quote from The War of the End of the World

“We tend to think things are new because we just discovered them.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from A Wind in the Door

“..."We were the pair. One too afraid to feel anything lest she lose control of her ironclad hold on her emotions, and the other so hungry to feel anything that she´d risk her free will for one night of fun."...”
― Kim Harrison, quote from Every Which Way But Dead

“Someone told me much later that you always know the people who are going to make a difference in your life, from the very first time you set eyes on them, even if you do not like them at all.”
― Sarah Dunant, quote from The Birth of Venus

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters 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.