Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov

26 quotes

American writer and biochemist Isaac Asimov has a gift for language that makes complex ideas feel instantly clear. Celebrated for his hard science fiction, Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as popular science and other non-fiction, including guides to the Bible and Shakespeare, Isaac Asimov brought that same intensity to the written and spoken word. Our collection holds 37 quotes from Isaac Asimov, each offering a different angle on Science, War, Society, Life, and Knowledge. To get a sense of their style, try: "The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom."

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”

— Isaac Asimov

Knowledge

All Quotes by Isaac Asimov

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

— Isaac Asimov

War

“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

Life

“To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today.”

— Isaac Asimov

God

“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.”

— Isaac Asimov

Death

“If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.”

— Isaac Asimov

Knowledge

“People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”

— Isaac Asimov

Funny

“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

Good

“All sorts of computer errors are now turning up. You'd be surprised to know the number of doctors who claim they are treating pregnant men.”

— Isaac Asimov

Medical

“It takes more than capital to swing business. You've got to have the A. I. D. degree to get by - Advertising, Initiative, and Dynamics.”

— Isaac Asimov

Business

“Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest.”

— Isaac Asimov

Computers

“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'”

— Isaac Asimov

Funny

“Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.”

— Isaac Asimov

Education

“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

Men

“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

War

“There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere.”

— Isaac Asimov

Science

“A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.”

— Isaac Asimov

Great

“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

Knowledge

“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

War

“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

Future

“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

Change