|
|
|
|
*We visited a bar, which was
a great relief, for in Boston, bars are occupied by serious drinkers who are
not discommoded by the sight of a small scarlet head emerging from a person's
shirt pocket and looking about. Boston drinkers see worse things even when
sober.
|
|
|
-George, a character in "Perfectly Formal",
by Euphrosyne Durando, a character in Isaac Asimov's "Cal", 1990
Gold: The Final Science Fiction
Collection, 1995
Part One: The Final Stories
|
|
|
*
"Winthrop," I said, "what would be the situation if you happened to put
on the wrong pair of shoes, or unbuttoned your shirt collar, or drank the
wrong wine with the wrong roast---"
Winthrop looked horrified. "Bite your tongue. A long
line of ancestors, collaterals, and in-laws, the intertwined and inbred
aristocracy of New England, would turn in their graves. By Whittier, they
would. And my own blood would froth and boil in rebellion. Hortense would
hide her face in shame, and my post at the Brahman Bank of Boston would be
taken away. I would be marched through serried ranks of vice-presidents,
my vest-buttons would be snipped off, and my tie would be pulled around to
the back."
"What!" For one little miserable deviation?"
Winthrop's voice sank to an icy whisper. "There are
no little, miserable deviations. There are only deviations."
|
|
|
-Winthrop Carver Cabwell and George,
characters in "Perfectly Formal", by Euphrosyne Durando, a character in
Isaac Asimov's "Cal", 1990
Gold: The Final Science Fiction
Collection, 1995
Part One: The Final Stories
|
|
|
*The fear-filled mind
resisted all.
|
|
|
-Isaac Asimov
Gold: The Final Science Fiction
Collection, 1995
Part One: The Final Stories
"Hallucination", Part Two, 1995
|
|
|
*Now guilt (for those of
you who have never experienced the emotion) is a dreadful annoyance, souring
one's life and making one unable to enjoy properly any renown or riches that
come one's way. One is bowed down by its weight and is rendered fearful of
the (usually imaginary) accusing eye of public disapproval.
|
|
|
-Isaac Asimov
Gold: The Final Science Fiction
Collection, 1995
Part Two: On Science Fiction
"Inventing a Universe", 1990
(cf. GUILT: MacGruder)
|
|
|
*Do I
believe that many people have seen something in the sky that they can't
explain?
Absolutely! Of course! You bet! Seeing something one
can't explain is very common. Every time I watch a magician perform his act
I see something I can't explain.
However, when I see something I can't explain, I assume
there is a perfectly normal explanation, one that fits in with the structure
of the universe as worked out by modern science. I don't instantly jump to
the idea that there is no explanation short of the supernatural or of some
far-out near-zero-probability hypothesis.
|
|
|
-Isaac Asimov
Gold: The Final Science Fiction
Collection, 1995
Part Two: On Science Fiction
"Flying Saucers and Science Fiction", 1982
|
|
|
*After all, all devices
have their dangers. The discovery of speech introduced communication---
and lies. The discovery of fire introduced cooking---and arson. The
discovery of the compass improved navigation---and destroyed civilizations
in Mexico and Peru. The automobile is marvelously useful---and kills
Americans by the tens of thousands each year. Medical advances have
saved lives by the millions---and intensified the population explosion.
|
|
|
-Isaac Asimov
Gold: The Final Science Fiction
Collection, 1995
Part Two: On Science Fiction, "The Robot Chronicles", 1990
|
|
|
*Nevertheless, although I am
an atheist, I am not a proselytizing one; I am not a missionary; I do not
treat atheism as a kind of true faith that I must force on everyone.
|
|
|
-Isaac Asimov
Gold: The Final Science Fiction
Collection, 1995
Part Two: On Science Fiction
"Religion and Science Fiction", 1984
|
|
|
*Editors don't reject
writers; they reject pieces of paper that have been typed on. Ed.
|
|
|
-Isaac Asimov
Gold: The Final Science Fiction
Collection, 1995
Part Three: On Writing Science Fiction
"Religion and Science Fiction", 1984
|
|
|
*But suppose that no
matter how you try, you can't seem to absorb the lesson. Well, it may be
that you're not a writer. It's no disgrace. You can always go on to take
up some slightly inferior profession like surgery or the presidency of the
United States. It won't be as good, of course; but we can't all scale the
heights.
|
|
|
-Isaac Asimov
Gold: The Final Science Fiction
Collection, 1995
Part Two: On Science Fiction
"Hints", 1979
|
|
|
*I am a rational man; I like
to think; and in any disagreement between my emotions and my rationality, I
should hope it is rationality that wins out every time.
|
|
|
-Isaac Asimov
Gold: The Final Science Fiction
Collection, 1995
Part Three: On Writing Science Fiction
"Book Reviews", 1981
|
|
|
*That is
the possibility all of us live with. We sit there alone, pounding out the
words, with our heart pounding in time. Each sentence brings with it a
sickening sensation of not being right. Each page keeps us wondering if
we are moving in the wrong direction.
Even if, for some reason, we feel we are getting it
right and that the whole thing is singing with operatic clarity, we are
going to come back to it the next day and reread it and hear only a duck's
quacking.
It's torture for every one of us.
|
|
|
-Isaac Asimov
Gold: The Final Science Fiction
Collection, 1995
Part Three: On Writing Science Fiction
"What Writers Go Through", 1981
|
|
|
I'm not a speed reader. I'm a speed
understander.
|
|
|
-Isaac Asimov
|
|
|
The most exciting phrase to hear in science,
the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's
funny...'
|
|
|
-Isaac Asimov
|
|
|
Home
(This is a test effort. The text is copyrighted, I took it from Biography.com. This
will not be the final version of the text I use.)
Writer, scientist; born in Petrovichi, Russia. He came to New York
City at age three. A Columbia Ph.D., he taught biochemistry at Boston University School
of Medicine after 1949. He was an author, lecturer, and broadcaster of legendary
prolificacy and astonishing range, but is most admired as a popularizer of science (The
Collapsing Universe (1977)) and a science fiction writer (I, Robot (1950)), The Foundation
Trilogy (1951--53)). He coined the term "robotics." (1920 - 1922)
