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Isaac Asimov Quotes

Writer
To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today.
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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.
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Jokes of the proper kind, properly told, can do more to enlighten questions of politics, philosophy, and literature than any number of dull arguments.
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To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well.
From Foundation
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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.
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People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
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Congratulations on the new library, because it isn't just a library. It is a space ship that will take you to the farthest reaches of the Universe, a time machine that will take you to the far past and the far future, a teacher that knows more than any human being, a friend that will amuse you and console you -- and most of all, a gateway, to a better and happier and more useful life.

[Letters of Note; Troy (MI, USA) Public Library, 1971]
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All of life is a symphony of successive losses. You lose your youth, your parents, your loves, your friends, your comforts, your health, and finally your life. To deny loss is to lose it all anyway and to lose, in addition, your self-possession and peace of mind.
From Nemesis
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All evil is good become cancerous.
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No individual death among human beings is important. Someone who dies leaves his work behind and that does not entirely die. It never entirely dies as long as humanity exists.
From Robots and Empire
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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 unrespectable 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.
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I have never, in all my life, not for one moment, been tempted toward religion of any kind. The fact is that I feel no spiritual void. I have my philosophy of life, which does not include any aspect of the supernatural and which I find totally satisfying. I am, in short, a rationalist and believe only that which reason tells me is so.
From I. Asimov: A Memoir
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If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.
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The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.
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It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.
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Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.
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Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.
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Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.
From Foundation
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Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
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but all life is a symphony of successive losses. You lose your youth, your parents, your loves, your friends, your comforts, your health, and finally your life. To deny loss is to lose it all anyway and to lose, in addition, your self-possession and your peace of mind
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Once, when a religionist denounced me in unmeasured terms, I sent him a card saying, "I am sure you believe that I will go to hell when I die, and that once there I will suffer all the pains and tortures the sadistic ingenuity of your deity can devise and that this torture will continue forever. Isn't that enough for you? Do you have to call me bad names in addition?
From I. Asimov: A Memoir
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To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Jokes of the proper kind, properly told, can do more to enlighten questions of politics, philosophy, and literature than any number of dull arguments.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well.
From Foundation
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Congratulations on the new library, because it isn't just a library. It is a space ship that will take you to the farthest reaches of the Universe, a time machine that will take you to the far past and the far future, a teacher that knows more than any human being, a friend that will amuse you and console you -- and most of all, a gateway, to a better and happier and more useful life.

[Letters of Note; Troy (MI, USA) Public Library, 1971]
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
All of life is a symphony of successive losses. You lose your youth, your parents, your loves, your friends, your comforts, your health, and finally your life. To deny loss is to lose it all anyway and to lose, in addition, your self-possession and peace of mind.
From Nemesis
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All evil is good become cancerous.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
No individual death among human beings is important. Someone who dies leaves his work behind and that does not entirely die. It never entirely dies as long as humanity exists.
From Robots and Empire
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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 unrespectable 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.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I have never, in all my life, not for one moment, been tempted toward religion of any kind. The fact is that I feel no spiritual void. I have my philosophy of life, which does not include any aspect of the supernatural and which I find totally satisfying. I am, in short, a rationalist and believe only that which reason tells me is so.
From I. Asimov: A Memoir
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.
From Foundation
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
but all life is a symphony of successive losses. You lose your youth, your parents, your loves, your friends, your comforts, your health, and finally your life. To deny loss is to lose it all anyway and to lose, in addition, your self-possession and your peace of mind
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Once, when a religionist denounced me in unmeasured terms, I sent him a card saying, "I am sure you believe that I will go to hell when I die, and that once there I will suffer all the pains and tortures the sadistic ingenuity of your deity can devise and that this torture will continue forever. Isn't that enough for you? Do you have to call me bad names in addition?
From I. Asimov: A Memoir
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Jokes of the proper kind, properly told, can do more to enlighten questions of politics, philosophy, and literature than any number of dull arguments.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well.
From Foundation
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Congratulations on the new library, because it isn't just a library. It is a space ship that will take you to the farthest reaches of the Universe, a time machine that will take you to the far past and the far future, a teacher that knows more than any human being, a friend that will amuse you and console you -- and most of all, a gateway, to a better and happier and more useful life.

[Letters of Note; Troy (MI, USA) Public Library, 1971]
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
All of life is a symphony of successive losses. You lose your youth, your parents, your loves, your friends, your comforts, your health, and finally your life. To deny loss is to lose it all anyway and to lose, in addition, your self-possession and peace of mind.
From Nemesis
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
All evil is good become cancerous.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
No individual death among human beings is important. Someone who dies leaves his work behind and that does not entirely die. It never entirely dies as long as humanity exists.
From Robots and Empire
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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 unrespectable 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.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I have never, in all my life, not for one moment, been tempted toward religion of any kind. The fact is that I feel no spiritual void. I have my philosophy of life, which does not include any aspect of the supernatural and which I find totally satisfying. I am, in short, a rationalist and believe only that which reason tells me is so.
From I. Asimov: A Memoir
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.
From Foundation
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
but all life is a symphony of successive losses. You lose your youth, your parents, your loves, your friends, your comforts, your health, and finally your life. To deny loss is to lose it all anyway and to lose, in addition, your self-possession and your peace of mind
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Once, when a religionist denounced me in unmeasured terms, I sent him a card saying, "I am sure you believe that I will go to hell when I die, and that once there I will suffer all the pains and tortures the sadistic ingenuity of your deity can devise and that this torture will continue forever. Isn't that enough for you? Do you have to call me bad names in addition?
From I. Asimov: A Memoir
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