Happy Birthday Isaac Asimov!

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

Ich habe keine Angst vor Computern. Ich habe Angst vor dem Mangel an ihnen.

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.

In der Wissenschaft beginnt alles Neue damit, dass jemand brummt Hmmm… ist ja komisch.

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

Richtig gelesen ist die Bibel die stärkste Kraft für den Atheismus, die jemals erfunden wurde.

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.

Würde mein Arzt mir mitteilen, ich hätte nur noch sechs Minuten zu leben, würde ich nicht darüber grübeln. Ich würde einfach etwas schneller tippen.

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

Religion ist eine der großen zivilisatorischen Einflüsse der Geschichte und in der Beziehung befriedigend.

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

Gewalt ist die letzte Zuflucht des Unfähigen.

I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.

Das größte Gut des Menschen ist sein unsteter Geist.

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

Ich schreibe aus dem gleichen Grund, aus dem ich atme – wenn ich es nicht täte, müsste ich sterben.

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.

Die Unmenschlichkeit des Computers beruht darauf, dass er richtig programmiert und einwandfrei funktionierend, so absolut ehrlich ist.

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.

Das Leben ist angenehm. Der Tod ist friedlich. Es ist der Übergang, der schwierig ist.

I don't believe in personal immortality; the only way I expect to have some version of such a thing is through my books.

Die Dankbarkeit ist am besten und effektivsten, wenn sie nicht in leeren Phrasen verdampft.

Creationists make it sound as though a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night.

Lebewesen können sich vermehren, bis der Phosphor vollständig verbraucht ist. Unerbittlich kommt dann das Ende, und niemand kann es verhindern.

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.

Intelligenz ist nur eine zufällige Begleiterscheinung des Lebens und vielleicht nicht einmal eine sehr nützliche.

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.

Und alles begann mit einigen Menschen in der Antike, die fragten, wie weit man Materie teilen könne. Es zeigt, was sich erreichen läßt, wenn man die richtigen Fragen stellt.

Meanwhile, fears of universal disaster sank to an all time low over the world.

Ich bin im Leben immer davon ausgegangen, dass Schwierigkeiten verschwinden, wenn man ihnen mutig zu Leibe rückt.

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

Emotional bin ich ein Atheist. Ich habe keine Fakten um zu belegen, dass Gott nicht existiert, aber ich vermute so sehr, dass er es nicht tut, dass ich meine Zeit nicht verschwende.

The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing.

In mir brennt der Wunsch, zu erklären.

From my close observation of writers... they fall into two groups: 1) those who bleed copiously and visibly at any bad review, and 2) those who bleed copiously and secretly at any bad review.

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.

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.

Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers.

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

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

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

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

I write for the same reason I breathe - because if I didn't, I would die.

It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.

Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today - but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all.

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.

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.

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.

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

Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not.

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.

To insult someone we call him 'bestial. For deliberate cruelty and nature, 'human' might be the greater insult.

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

When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.

I am not a speed reader. I am a speed understander.

If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.