Isaac Asimov, Foundation Quotes

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

The human mind works at low efficiency. Twenty percent is the figure usually given. When, momentarily, there is a flash of greater power, it is termed a hunch, or insight, or intuition.

Past glories are poor feeding.

It seems to me, Golan, that the advance of civilization is nothing but an exercise in the limiting of privacy.

Society is much more easily soothed than one's own conscience.

In the empty expanses of space, the wandering traders need men like myself to care for the spiritual side of a life so given over to commerce, and worldly pursuits.

Somewhere on the world was the Emperor's palace, set amid one hundred square miles of natural soil, rainbowed with flowers.

Courtiers don't take wagers against the king's skill. There is a deadly danger of winning

For a wise man, I have been told, once said, ‘Gratitude is best and most effective when it does not evaporate in empty phrases.’ But alas, my lady, I am but a mass of empty phrases, it would seem.

Weak emperors mean strong viceroys.

Where is the world whose people don't prefer a comfortable, warm, and well-worn belief, however illogical, to the chilly winds of uncertainty?

Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.

He slept that night the sleep of a successfully stubborn man.

Married life had taught Toran the futility of arguing with a female in dark-brown mood. He shrugged, and left her.

Married life had taught him the futility of arguing with a female in a dark-brown mood.

The clown’s eyes sidled towards her, then drew away quickly. “But they kept me away from you earlier-and, on my word, you may laugh, but I was lonely for missing friendship.

I am afraid a monster is grown that will devour all of us. Yet we must fight him.