Isaac Asimov was a prolific American writer who specialized in the genre of science fiction.Asimov was a professor of biochemistry at Boston University. He had a stellar knowledge of the universe and the political and cultural life of the human race during his time.Isaac Asimov has written and edited more than 500 books and a large number of scientific journals and essays. His most famous book series include ‘Foundation’, ‘Robot’, and ‘Galactic Empire’. ‘Foundation’ became a record-breaking bestseller and won the Hugo Award for Best All-Time Series in 1966. This article features the most famous quotes on science, education, and the philosophy of life by Isaac Asimov which will give you an insight into this prolific writer’s decade-long work.Isaac Asimov Quotes About WritingRead these quotes to know Isaac Asimov’s take on writing.“Science fiction may be defined as that branch of literature which deals with the response of human beings to advances in science and technology.” - ‘Is Anyone There’, 1967.“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.”“Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.”“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.” - ‘I. Asimov: A Memoir’.“I am not a speed reader. I am a speed understander.”“Private profit is often hidden under a careful coating of great patriotism.” - ‘The Roman Republic’, 1966.“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.”“Violence,” came the retort, “is the last refuge of the incompetent.” - ‘Foundation’, 1951.“I write for the same reason I breathe - because if I didn’t, I would die.”“While he lives, he must think; while he thinks, he must dream.”“You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer."“Stories grow by accretion. Tales accumulate — like dust.” - ‘Foundation’s Edge’, 1982.Isaac Asimov Quotes About Science and TechnologyThese quotes will trigger your mind to make you fall in love with the world of science.“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” - ‘Isaac Asimov’s Book Of Science And Nature Quotations’, 1988.“There’s nothing like deduction. We’ve determined everything about our problem but the solution.” - ‘I, Robot’, 1950.“Predicting the future is a hopeless, thankless task, with ridicule to begin with and, all too often, scorn to end with.” - The World Of 1990, ‘Diners Club Magazine’, 1965.“Indeed, it may well be argued that one reason for the decline in science, art, and literature was the increasing absorption of the better minds into a new sort of intellectual pursuit – theology.” - ‘The Roman Empire’, 1967.“Any planet is ‘Earth’ to those that live on it.” - ‘Pebble In The Sky’.“It is the invariable lesson to humanity that distance in time, and in space as well, lends focus. It is not recorded, incidentally, that the lesson has ever been permanently learned.” - ‘Foundation And Empire’, 1952.“Intelligence is an accident of evolution, and not necessarily an advantage.”“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.” - ‘A Pebble In The Sky’.Isaac Asimov Quotes About Life(Isaac Asimov wrote over 380 short stories on various topics like humanity.)These Isaac Asimov quotes will motivate you in life.“Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.” - ‘Foundation’, 1951.It is the nature of science that answers automatically pose new and more subtle questions. - ‘The Wellsprings Of Life’, 1960.“I wish that I could say I was optimistic about the human race.““It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today.““A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value. It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.“It is important to remember that the viciousness and wrongs of life stick out very plainly but that even at the worst times there is a great deal of goodness, kindness, and day-to-day decency that goes unnoticed and makes no headlines.” - ‘The Roman Empire’, 1967.“In the world of today can there be peace anywhere until there is peace everywhere?” - ‘The Egyptians’, 1967.“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome."“To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well.” - ‘Foundation’, 1951.“He is a dreamer of ancient times, or rather, of the myths of what ancient times used to be. Such men are harmless in themselves, but their queer lack of realism makes them fools for others.” - ‘Foundation And Empire’, 1952“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?” - ‘I, Robot’, 1950.“To us, all life is a series of accidents to be met with improvisations. To them, all life is purposive and should be met with precalculation.” - ‘Second Foundation’, 1953.“Once you get it into your head that somebody is controlling events, you can interpret everything in that light and find no reasonable certainty anywhere.” - ‘Foundation’s Edge’, 1982.Isaac Asimov Quotes About EducationApart from being a writer, Isaac Asimov was also an educator. These quotes sum up his thoughts on education.“It is only afterward that a new idea seems reasonable. To begin with, it usually seems unreasonable.” - ‘How Do People Get New Ideas?’, 1959.“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.”“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.”“How often people speak of art and science as though they were two entirely different things, with no interconnection.““The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ but ‘That’s funny…’."“There is a kind of selective memory that afflicts men when they view the past. They see the good and overlook the evil.” - ‘The Roman Empire’, 1967.“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.” - ‘The Roving Mind’.“Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.” - ‘Foundation’, 1951.“Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.”“The strain of 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.’” - ‘A Cult Of Ignorance’, 1980.“Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”“One should cultivate an innocence, an awareness of self, and an unselfconsciousness of self which leaves one nothing to hide.” - ‘Second Foundation’, 1953.“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 was a prolific American writer who specialized in the genre of science fiction.
