Isaac Asimov was a Russian-born American science fiction writer, born in 1920, who wrote fantastic fiction series, such as the Galactic Empire series, the Robot series and the Foundation series. He was a brilliant writer who wrote and edited over 500 books in his lifetime. Asimov worked at the Naval Aviation Experimental Station in Philadelphia during World War 2.
After getting his master’s and doctorate, Isaac Asimov was hired as an associate professor at Boston University of Medicine for biochemistry. Asimov worked hard to write excellent science fiction short stories. His mentor was John Campbell who has studied his work and had rejected his two first stories. Asimov’s luck worked the third time when he managed to sell his third story called the ‘Marooned off Vesta’ to a popular magazine in 1938.
Here Are Some of the Most Inspiring Isaac Asimov Quotes
1.“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” ― Isaac Asimov
2.“Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.” ― Isaac Asimov, Foundation
3.“If my doctor told me, I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.” ― Isaac Asimov
4.“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but ‘That’s funny…” ― Isaac Asimov
5.“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.” ― Isaac Asimov
6.“Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.” ― Isaac Asimov
7.“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.” ― Isaac Asimov
8.“Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” ― Isaac Asimov
9.“I write for the same reason I breathe – because if I didn’t, I would die.” ― Isaac Asimov
10.“Creationists make it sound as though a ‘theory’ is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night.” ― Isaac Asimov
11.“I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I’ve been an atheist for years and years, but somehow, I felt it was intellectually disrespectful to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn’t have. Somehow, it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I’m a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally, I am an atheist. I don’t have the evidence to prove that God doesn’t exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn’t that I don’t want to waste my time.” ― Isaac Asimov
12.“Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” ― Isaac Asimov
13.“You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you’re working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success – but only if you persist.” ― Isaac Asimov
14.“It is the obvious which is so difficult to see most of the time. People say, ‘It’s as plain as the nose on your face.’ But how much of the nose on your face can you see unless someone holds a mirror up to you?” ― Isaac Asimov, I, Robot
15.“They won’t listen. Do you know why? Because they have certain fixed notions about the past. Any change would be blasphemy in their eyes, even if it were the truth. They don’t want the truth; they want their traditions.” ― Isaac Asimov, Pebble in the Sky
16.“I prefer rationalism to atheism. The question of God and other objects-of-faith are outside reason and play no part in rationalism, thus you don’t have to waste your time in either attacking or defending.” ― Isaac Asimov
17.“To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today.” ― Isaac Asimov
18.“Intelligence is an accident of evolution, and not necessarily an advantage.” ― Isaac Asimov
19.“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” ― Isaac Asimov, Foundation
20.“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’” ― Isaac Asimov
21.“In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate.” ― Isaac Asimov
22.“I received the fundamentals of my education in school, but that was not enough. My real education, the superstructure, the details, the true architecture, I got out of the public library. For an impoverished child whose family could not afford to buy books, the library was the open door to wonder and achievement, and I can never be sufficiently grateful that I had the wit to charge through that door and make the most of it. Now, when I read constantly about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that the door is closing, and that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.” ― Isaac Asimov, I. Asimov: A Memoir
23.“Imagine the people who believe such things and who are not ashamed to ignore, totally, all the patient findings of thinking minds through all the centuries since the Bible was written. And it is these ignorant people, the most uneducated, the most unimaginative, the most unthinking among us, who would make themselves the guides and leaders of us all; who would force their feeble and childish beliefs on us; who would invade our schools and libraries and homes. I personally resent it bitterly.” ― Isaac Asimov, The Roving Mind
24.“The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing.” ― Isaac Asimov
25.“It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. 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.” ― Isaac Asimov
26.“Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not.” ― Isaac Asimov
27.“Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition.” ― Isaac Asimov
28.“And above all things, never think that you’re not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. My belief is that in life people will take you at your own reckoning.” ― Isaac Asimov
29.“Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest.” ― Isaac Asimov
30.“I don’t believe in an afterlife, so I don’t have to spend my whole life fearing hell, or fearing heaven even more. For whatever the tortures of hell, I think the boredom of heaven would be even worse.” ― Isaac Asimov
31.“Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know – and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance.” ― Isaac Asimov
32.“I don’t believe in personal immortality; the only way I expect to have some version of such a thing is through my books.” ― Isaac Asimov
33.“He had read much, if one considers his long life; but his contemplation was much more than his reading. He was wont to say that if he had read as much as other men, he should have known no more than other men.” ― Isaac Asimov
34. “John Dalton’s records, carefully preserved for a century, were destroyed during the World War II bombing of Manchester. It is not only the living who are killed in war.” ― Isaac Asimov
35.“It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.” ― Isaac Asimov
Foundation: How Isaac Asimov Changed Science Fiction Forever
We will be discussing what is without a doubt the most influential science fiction book Saga of all time, Asimov’s Foundation, and of course the associated works. Isaac Asimov, born January 2, 1920, is essentially credited with inventing the Galactic Empire. Asimov also coined the term “Robotics” and the term “Positronic” both of which were used in one of the greatest Science Fiction shows of all time, 1987’s Star Trek the Next Generation, for the android character, Data, whose positronic mind was a focal point of many episodes.
Summary
Although Asimov is more popularly known for his science fiction books, he also delved into writing mysteries, fantasy, and non-fiction books as well. Isaac Asimov was also a biochemistry professor at Boston University and wrote on numerous scientific subjects such as history, biblical exegesis, chemistry, astronomy, mathematics, and literary criticism. His first three books were honored with the Hugo Award in 1986 for being the ‘Best All-Time Series”. He wanted his work and bright ideas to outlive him, and his wish came true as the world continues to respect him as one of the best science fiction writers of all time.
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Image Credit: “ISAAC ASIMOV · Bombero Nuñez” by Museo de Arte Callejero is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 [resized to 1000×667]
Image Credit: “Isaac Asimov Hails a Cab” by zzazazz is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 [resized to 1000×667]
Image Credit: “Dr. Isaac Asimov” by MarkGregory007 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 [resized to 800×412]
Image Credit: Robert Heinlein, L. Sprague de Camp, and Isaac Asimov, Philadelphia Navy Yard, 1944. First published in Air Scoop (Navy Yard News periodical), 9 August 1944. [resized to 1000×667]
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