Quotes from Isaac Asimov

It is not only the living who are killed in war.

During the century after Newton, it was still possible for a man of unusual attainments to master all fields of scientific knowledge. But by 1800, this had become entirely impracticable.

There is no right to deny freedom to any object with a mind advanced enough to grasp the concept and desire the state. -(from "The Bicentennial Man) story)

It was childish to feel disappointed, but childishness comes almost as naturally to a man as to a child.

One thought that occurs to me is that men will continue to withdraw from nature in order to create an environment that will suit them better.

Do not forget that a traitor within our ranks, known to us, can do more harm to the enemy than a loyal man can do good to us.

No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.

There seems to be a feeling that anything that is natural is good. Strychnine is natural.

When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent.

To insult someone we call him 'bestial. For deliberate cruelty and nature, 'human' might be the greater insult.

Democracy cannot survive overpopulation.

I wanted to be a psychological engineer, but we lacked the facilities, so I did the next best thing - I went into politics. It's practically the same thing.

I write for the same reason I breathe - because if I didn't, I would die.

Many a prophecy, by the mere force of its being believed, is transmuted to fact.

It seems to me that God is a convenient invention of the human mind

I figure that if God actually does exist, he is big enough to understand an honest difference of opinion.

My feeling is, quite simply, that if there is a God, He has done such a bad jobthat he isn't worth discussing.

Robots will neither be common nor very good in 2014, but they will be in existence.

It is in meeting the great tests that mankind can most successfully rise to great heights. Out of danger and restless insecurity comes the force that pushes mankind to newer and loftier conquests.

Maybe happiness is this: not feeling like you should be elsewhere, doing something else, being someone else.

Happiness is doing it rotten your own way.

There are no happy endings in history, only crisis points that pass.

There are no nations! There is only humanity. And if we don't come to understand that right soon, there will be no nations, because there will be no humanity.

All humanity could share a common insanity and be immersed in a common illusion while living in a common chaos. That can't be disproved, but we have no choice but to follow our senses.