Любая система, которая, подобно Вечности, позволяет кучке людей принимать решения за все человечество, выбирать за человечество его будущее, неизбежно приводит к тому, что высшим благом начинают считать умеренность и безопасность — синонимы посредственности. В такой Реальности звезды недостижимы.
Айзек Азимов «Конец Вечности»
I received a letter the other day. It was handwritten in crabbed penmanship so that it was very difficult to read. Nevertheless, I tried to make it out just in case it might prove to be important. In the first sentence, the writer told me he was majoring in English literature, but felt he needed to teach me science. (I sighed a bit, for I knew very few English Lit majors who are equipped to teach me science, but I am very aware of the vast state of my ignorance and I am prepared to learn as much as I can from anyone, so I read on.)
It seemed that in one of my innumerable essays, I had expressed a certain gladness at living in a century in which we finally got the basis of the universe straight.
I didn't go into detail in the matter, but what I meant was that we now know the basic rules governing the universe, together with the gravitational interrelationships of its gross components, as shown in the theory of relativity worked out between 1905 and 1916. We also know the basic rules governing the subatomic particles and their interrelationships, since these are very neatly described by the quantum theory worked out between 1900 and 1930. What's more, we have found that the galaxies and clusters of galaxies are the basic units of the physical universe, as discovered between 1920 and 1930.
These are all twentieth-century discoveries, you see.
The young specialist in English Lit, having quoted me, went on to lecture me severely on the fact that in every century people have thought they understood the universe at last, and in every century they were proved to be wrong. It follows that the one thing we can say about our modern "knowledge" is that it is wrong. The young man then quoted with approval what Socrates had said on learning that the Delphic oracle had proclaimed him the wisest man in Greece. "If I am the wisest man", said Socrates, "it is because I alone know that I know nothing". The implication was that I was very foolish because I was under the impression I knew a great deal.
My answer to him was, "John, when people thought the earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together".
Свобода не имеет цены.
Айзек Азимов «Двухсотлетний человек»
На свете нет важных людей. Разве вы возьметесь утверждать, что в природе существует один-единственный важный микроб?
Айзек Азимов «Выведение Человека?»
Всегда старайся сначала подумать, а потом лучше промолчи.
Айзек Азимов «Я, робот»
Если бы был создан робот, способный стать общественным деятелем, он был бы самым лучшим из них. По законам Роботехники, он не мог бы причинять людям зла, был бы чужд тирании, подкупа, глупости или предрассудков. И прослужив некоторое время, он ушел бы в отставку, хотя он и бессмертен,— ведь для него было бы невозможно огорчить людей, дав им понять, что ими управляет робот. Это было бы почти идеально.
Айзек Азимов «Я, робот»
Главной характеристикой религии под названием наука является то, что она действует.
Айзек Азимов «Основание»