Foundation and Empire (The Foundation Trilogy #2)

by Isaac Asimov

The entire world was one functional distortion. There was no living object on its surface but man, his pets, and his parasites.

It is the invariable lesson to humanity that distance in time, and in space as well, lends focus. It is not recorded, incidentally, that the lesson has ever been permanently learned.

There was the ghost of a sigh in the silence,

“Gratitude is best and most effective when it does not evaporate itself in empty phrases.”

Inevitably, he said, ‘What is the meaning of this?’ It is the precise question and the precise wording thereof that has been put to the atmosphere on such occasions by an incredible variety of men since humanity was invented. It is not recorded that it has ever been asked for any purpose other than dignified effect.