One of the most acclaimed and widely read science fiction authors. Isaac Asimov was a famous writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, born during the year 1919 in the town of Petrovichi, Russian Federation.
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| The 70 best phrases of Isaac Asimov |
Some of Isaac Asimov's novels such as: "I robot" or "The bicentennial man" have been brought to the big screen today, all of them achieving good general acceptance among the public.
Great quotes and famous quotes from Isaac Asimov
Would you like to know the most interesting phrases of this science fiction teacher?
Below you can discover the 70 best phrases of Isaac Asimov , a writer that, without a doubt, we should all remember.
1. There are no nations! There is only humanity, and if we don't understand that soon, there will be no nations, because there will be no humanity.
Humanity must be able to understand each other, we should all know how to row in the same direction.
2. Those people who think they know it all are a great nuisance to those of us who are trying.
No one knows everything, accepting this fact will allow us to delve into the search for knowledge.
3. I believe in the evidence. I believe in observation, measurement and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I will believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous it is, if there is evidence of it. However, the wilder and more ridiculous it is, the firmer and stronger the evidence will be.
As a good scientist Asimov believed in verified facts, for something to be true it must be able to be demonstrated.
4. Any planet is Earth for those who live on it.
If we lived on another planet it would also be Earth for us, because in practice it would be our home.
5. Any fool can say that there is a crisis when it comes. The true service to the state is to detect it in the embryonic state.
Being able to anticipate problems will give us the opportunity to face them better prepared.
6. When a religious denounced me in excessive terms, I sent him a letter that said: I am sure you believe that I will go to hell when I die, and that once there I will suffer all the pain and torture ... that your deity can devise ... is that enough for you? Do you have to give me derogatory names?
In this way, Asimov tried to make the religious doubt by talking about his own beliefs. If he thought that he would be punished after death, why did he act in life?
7. In some ways, it was better to say that I was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I am a creature of emotion and reason. Emotionally I am an atheist.
As we can see, Asimov was a convinced atheist, today many people are atheists but in the past this was not so common.
8. Tell me why the stars shine ... Tell me what makes the skies so blue. And I will tell you why I love you.
Knowledge was very important for this great writer, in order to love a person, he needed that person to be someone intelligent too.
9. The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers the fastest knowledge of what society gathers wisdom.
Human beings must be able to adapt to the needs of the moment and evolve over time towards a better society.
10. The first step in making rabbit stew is to catch the rabbit.
As we can see in this quote, in order to carry out an elaborated plan, we must necessarily follow one essential steps. If we are not methodical, we will not achieve the success we hope for.
11. They will not listen. You know why? Because they have certain fixed notions about the past. In their eyes, any change would be blasphemy even if it were the truth. They don't want the truth, they want the tradition.
In order to evolve as a society, we will have to break taboos from the past and devise a fairer future for all.
12. In the presence of total Darkness, the mind believes that it is absolutely necessary to create light.
Our mind is an incredible tool, all the advances that we have today are the result of human ingenuity.
13. Actually, we hardly need to do good. What is needed is that we stop doing evil, geez!
We must not do in our lives that which is not beneficial to the whole of society, we must stop harming each other.
14. It was childish to be disappointed, but childishness is as natural to a man as it is to a boy.
Maturing is essential in life that we all do at one time or another. When we reach maturity we realize that things are usually not what they seem.
15. Writing is a lonely job. Even if a writer socializes regularly, when he gets to the real deal of his life, it's him and his typewriter or word processor. No one else is or may be involved in the matter.
We all write individually using exclusively our thoughts. As Asimov tells us well, writing is perhaps a bit lonely work.
16. I write for the same reason I breathe, because if I didn't, I would die.
Asimov saw in writing a way by which to express what he felt or thought. Writing can be very beneficial to anyone who practices it.
17. I am convinced that self-education is the only type of education that exists.
In order to really learn something, we must be very interested in learning it. So in one way or another we all educate ourselves in what interests us most.
18. Examine fragments of pseudoscience and you will find a cloak of protection, a thumb to suck, skirts to hold on to. What do we offer in exchange? Uncertainty! Unsafety!
Science is usually the creator of more questions than answers, because in order to find a great solution there must be a great problem to solve.
19. There are many aspects of the universe that science cannot yet satisfactorily explain, but ignorance only implies ignorance that it may one day be conquered. Surrendering to ignorance and calling her "God" has always been premature, and continues to be premature today.
The human being has always sought the answers to his questions, and in ancient times the answer to everything was always God.
20. Flattery is useful when dealing with young people.
Using psychology can help us to manipulate in some way the wills of others.
21. The Bible, correctly read, is the most powerful argument for atheism ever conceived.
The Bible can contain a large number of errata or implausible situations, which seen from the point of view of an atheist do nothing but argue their own ideas.
22. The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that announces the most discoveries, is not: "Eureka!", But: "That's funny ..."
In the search for knowledge, the question is as important or more than the answer itself.
23. People think of education as something that can end.
Education is something that takes us all our lives, the human being must never stop learning new things.
24. Intelligence is an accident of evolution, and not necessarily an advantage.
Human beings have developed their intellect merely for evolutionary reasons and with this they have become the maximum predator of the planet on which we live.
25. Luck favors only the prepared mind.
In order to take advantage of advantageous situations, we must be able to perceive them as such.
26. Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It is the transition that is problematic.
Death is something that will come to all of us, the hardest part of living it is just the previous moment.
27. Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to today's blind critics and philosophers, but the core of science fiction, its essence, has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved.
Science fiction can be a good tool that allows us to think about the future and about the possible advances that we will experience in it.
28. People think that "correct" and "incorrect" are absolute truths, that everything that is not perfect and completely correct is totally incorrect.
Life tends to move in rather gray situations, neither black nor white. Our personal point of view tells us in most cases if something is right or wrong.
29. The obvious is what is difficult to see most of the time. People say it's so simple, it was on your nose and you didn't notice. But what part of the nose of your face can you see, unless a mirror holds you up?
In order to discover something, the necessary conditions must be met for it, the situation we live in is usually a fundamental aspect in great discoveries.
30. Weak emperors mean strong viceroys.
When a leader is weak, his second-in-command will take control at the slightest opportunity.
31. Humans sometimes find a kind of pleasure in fueling painful emotions, blaming themselves for no reason or even against reason.
We should not fall into self-pity, recreating ourselves in painful emotions will not bring anything good to our life.
32. They ask me Don't you believe in flying saucers? Don't you believe in telepathy? ... In life after death. No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no.
Asimov spoke in his novels of many things that he knew did not exist, but who knows what will exist in the future?
33. Nothing alters my concentration. You could have an orgy in my office and I wouldn't watch. Well, maybe at least once.
This writer was very clear about his priorities and his work was the most important thing for him.
34. Denying a fact is the easiest thing in the world. Many people do it, but the fact remains a fact.
As much as we deny a fact, it will never cease to be true. Facts must be accepted for both good and bad.
35. There is no discovery in science, however revolutionary it may be ... That does not originate from what happened before.
For a great discovery to take place, there must have been a host of situations that have led us to it.
36. There is no right to deny freedom to any object with a mind advanced enough to grasp the concept and desire the state.
Freedom must be a fundamental right of all living beings, depriving someone of it will be cruelty on our part.
37. Writing, for me, is simply thinking through my fingers.
Writing allows us to express ourselves freely and order our own thoughts. It is certainly something that we all should do much more.
38. I'm not afraid of computers. I fear the lack of them.
Computers have helped us and will help us evolve in the future. Computers enhance the capabilities of the human being.
39. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I suspect so much that He doesn't exist that I don't want to waste my time.
The scientist's mind always tells him and will say that God does not exist, because there is still nothing that minimally tells us that He does.
40. Never let your sense of morality stop you from doing the right thing.
What is right for society may be what is morally wrong for us. What is doing the right thing then? This is a great question that we will all ask ourselves more than once in life.
41. Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
Violence is never the answer to anything, it is just a way to let go of our despair and frustration.
42. For a poor child whose family was unable to buy books, the library represented an open door to wonder and achievement, and I will never be thankful enough to have had the courage to walk through that door and make the most of it.
Libraries are a wonderful place that give us the opportunity to evolve as people and to satisfy our thirst for knowledge.
43. I think that right and wrong are confusing concepts.
There is no right or wrong, because our perception will never allow us to have a completely clear idea about it. Our particular point of view will always be the right thing for us.
44. I prefer rationalism to atheism. The question of God and other objects of faith are out of reason and not part of rationalism, therefore you don't have to waste your time attacking or defending it.
For Isaac Asimov only those things existed that could be demonstrated with irrefutable facts.
45. I received the foundations of my education at school, but that was not enough. My true education came out of the public library.
The education we receive is often in many cases insufficient, we should not allow ourselves to be limited by it. We can always learn new things if we do our part.
46. If knowledge can create problems, it is not with ignorance that we can solve them.
Knowledge is the solution to all of humanity's problems, we must never stop searching for knowledge.
47. If you are born in a cubicle and grow up in a hallway, and you work in a cell, and you go on vacation in a sunny room full of people, then going out into the light with nothing but heaven can give you a nervous breakdown.
Some things may perhaps be beyond us, but they should not necessarily be harmful to us.
48. There is only one war that can be allowed to the human being: the war against its extinction.
Human beings must fight to adapt to the situations they encounter, we should all be more aware of what interests us as a species.
49. I am an atheist ... it took me a long time to say it. I have been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt that it was intellectually irresistible to say that one was religious, because he assumed the knowledge that one did not have.
We do not have to hide our religious beliefs, we are all free to adopt those beliefs that interest us the most.
50. I have the feeling that the main tourist attraction on the Moon will be its sky, much more magnificent than ours…
From the Moon, the stars should be much more visible, although according to the images of the Apollo missions this seems not to be true.
51. All evil is skillful and becomes cancerous.
Detecting an evil as soon as possible will help us to end it more easily.
52. Your assumptions are windows on the world. Clean them from time to time, or the light will not enter.
We should not assume that we know what we do not really know, assumptions can be detrimental to our personal development.
53. A recently desperate person… exploded and said: Don't you believe anything? Yes, I said. I believe in the evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers.
As a good scientist, Asimov believes in what can be demonstrated, what cannot be demonstrated, it is not known whether it is true or not.
54. I am able to recognize the positive aspects that the influence of religions has had throughout history. For example, we owe to them the creation of rational calendars that have been so useful… Although honestly, I am unable to remember any more.
Religions have contributed positive aspects to our society, some of them being very relevant for our development.
55. It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
Making our ideas and intentions clear will save us a lot of trouble in the future.
56. A fire eater must eat fire, even if he has to light it himself.
As a species we need certain things in order to evolve, if we cannot find them in the natural environment we must manufacture them ourselves.
57. All the hundreds of millions of people who believed that the Earth was flat in their day never succeeded in surrounding it.
Our ideas limit us and create in us certain uncertainties that can mark us forever.
58. All normal life, conscious or not, suffers from domination. If domination is by an inferior, or by an inferior assumption, resentment becomes stronger.
Living beings tend not to be subdued by anything or anyone, we all value the freedom with which we are born.
59. Maybe happiness is this: not feeling like you should be somewhere else, doing something else, being someone else.
The life we lead must fill us personally, if it does not it will be better for us to change our lives.
60. When I read about the way library funds are being trimmed and trimmed, I can only think that American society has found a new way to destroy itself.
Libraries are of vital importance for the intellectual development of society, without them society would be doomed towards widespread ignorance.
61. Above all, never think that you are not good enough. Never think that. Otherwise, people will believe that it is so.
We all have room for improvement, we can improve, change and be more effective than we were in the past.
62. If my doctor told me that I only have 6 minutes to live, I wouldn't worry. I would type a little faster.
Asimov wanted to write until the last second of his life, writing was always his greatest ally.
63. I am not a fast reader. I am a quick understander.
We must understand what we read, otherwise we will not really be reading anything.
64. You can prove anything you want for a coldly logical reason, if you choose the correct postulates.
Our arguments are those that will give us the force of reason. Without it we will not be able to convince others.
65. Of course there are worlds. Millions of them! Every star you see has worlds, and most you don't see.
The universe is huge, most likely infinite, and the chances that other worlds exist are just as huge.
66. Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is properly programmed and runs smoothly, it is completely honest.
Computers form and will form a large part of the society of the future, with them our technological evolution can be much faster.
67. To succeed, only planning is insufficient. One must improvise too.
Improvisation can give us the opportunity to experience things that we would not otherwise do.
68. There can never be a man as lost as someone who is lost in the vast and intricate corridors of his own lonely mind, where no one can reach him and no one can save him.
Knowing how to move through our mind and wisely use its capacity can be something that takes us a lifetime.
69. They won't listen. You know why? Because they have certain fixed notions about the past. Any change would be blasphemy in his eyes, even if it were the truth. They do not want the truth; they prefer their traditions.
We must not let dogmas from the past direct our lives, the future can be wonderful if we believe that we can improve what we do not like about the present.
70. There is nothing so eternally fixed as the memory of power.
Power can be highly persuasive, many of us walk through life aimlessly obsessed with its search.
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