1. On Knowledge and Society
“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”
2. On Violence
“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” – In Foundation.
3. On Self-Education
“Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.”
4. On Creationists and Theories
“Creationists make it sound as though a ‘theory’ is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night.”
5. On Jokes
“Jokes of the proper kind, properly told, can do more to enlighten questions of politics, philosophy, and literature than any number of dull arguments.” – In Isaac Asimov’s Treasury of Humor: 640 jokes, anecdotes, and limericks, complete with notes on how to tell them, from America’s leading renaissance man, Introduction.
6. On Life and Its seemingly Obstacles
“In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate.”- Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain (1987)
7. On Computers, Humans, and Honesty
“Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest.”- In Change! (1983), Quoted in Reader’s Digest, 1987
8. On Any Beliefs and their Adherents
“There is no belief, however foolish, that will not gather its faithful adherents who will defend it to the death.” – In The Stars in Their Courses (1971)
9. On Ignorance or Skepticism
“All the hundreds of millions of people who, in their time, believed the Earth was flat never succeeded in unrounding it by an inch.”
10. On Writing and Goals
“When asked for advice by beginners, I always stress that. Know your ending, I say, or the river of your story may finally sink into the desert sands and never reach the sea.”- In I. Asimov: A Memoir, Ch. 15, Beginning to Write.
Bonus! On Education:
“People think of education as something they can finish.”
Source for Quotes 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, Bonus: Goodreads.Com
Source for Quotes 6, 7, 8: WireClub.Com.
Image information: This work is from the New York World-Telegram and Sun collection at the Library of Congress. According to the library, there are no known copyright restrictions on the use of this work.