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The Currents of Space (1952). This is the first of my Empire novels. The Stars, Like Dust—(1951). The second Empire novel. Pebble in the Sky (1950). The third Empire novel.
A mathematician, however, who could back his prophecy with mathematical formulas and terminology, might be understood by no one and yet believed by everyone.”
“What do you mean ‘psychohistorical’?” “I refer to the theoretical assessment of probabilities concerning the future as ‘psychohistory.’ ”
“A lank is someone who wears things for their shock value. I’m sure you have such people on Helicon.” Seldon snorted. “There are those who wear their hair shoulder-length on one side and shave the other.” He laughed at the memory.
“Are you predicting universal war and anarchy if the Empire fails?” “Of course. I’m not fond of the Emperor or of the Imperial institutions in general, but I don’t have any substitute for it. I don’t know what else will keep the peace and I’m not ready to let go until I have something else in hand.”
almost as though muttering to himself, “How harmful overspecialization is. It cuts knowledge at a million points and leaves it bleeding.”
I’ve seen many people with status, but I’m still looking for a happy one. Status won’t sit still under you; you have to continually fight to keep from sinking.
History is different. It is the unconscious working out of the deeds and thoughts of quadrillions of human beings. Historians must pick and choose.”
“Pardon me, but I must run the risk of offending you now. I’ve been computering you.” “Computering me!” Seldon’s eyes widened. He felt distinctly angry.
“There is too much history and there is too little of it that is told.”
The trouble is that even the most careful forethought and the most cleverly designed computer programs can’t always predict what is essentially unpredictable.”
“Taboo?” “A specialized anthropological term. It’s a reference to serious and effective social pressure forbidding some sort of action.
Why, he wondered, did so many people spend their lives not trying to find answers to questions—not even thinking of questions to begin with? Was there anything more exciting in life than seeking answers?
I find it impossible to believe that there would be such unreasoning feeling against harmless people.” Amaryl said bitterly, “That’s because you’ve never had any occasion to interest yourself in such things. It can all pass right under your nose and you wouldn’t smell a thing because it doesn’t affect you.”
There are peculiar and almost ritualistic hatreds that have no rational justification and that can have their serious historical influence.
At the slightest stress, human beings seemed to divide themselves into antagonistic groups.
“I can’t bear to hear a human being spoken of with contempt just because of his group identification—even by other human beings. It’s these respectable people here who create those hooligans out there.” “And other respectable people,” said Seldon, “who create these respectable people. These mutual animosities are as much a part of humanity—”
If we are always to draw back from change with the thought that the change may be for the worse, then there is no hope at all of ever escaping injustice.”
mephitic odors
If all human beings understood history, they might cease making the same stupid mistakes over and over.”
Clearly, Seldon wanted to be a cipher except where psychohistory was concerned. It is as though he felt—or wanted it to be felt—that he did not live, he merely psychohistorified.
“Emotions, my dear Seldon, are a powerful engine of human action, far more powerful than human beings themselves realize, and you cannot know how much can be done with the merest touch and how reluctant I am to do it.”
“Take my advice, Hari! If the time comes when you are able to set up some device that may act to prevent the worst from happening, see if you can think of two devices, so that if one fails, the other will carry on. The Empire must be steadied or rebuilt on a new foundation. Let there be two such, rather than one, if that is possible.”
The Stars, Like Dust is the first book in the Galactic Empire series, the spectacular precursor to the classic Foundation series.
The End of Eternity is a spellbinding novel set in the universe of Isaac Asimov’s classic Galactic Empire series and Foundation series.
