Forward the Foundation (Foundation, #7)

by Isaac Asimov

Forty! He was not young any longer. Life no longer stretched before him as a vast uncharted field, its horizon lost in the distance.

Generally he negotiated the path with his thoughts elsewhere,

He started slightly, for there was the sound of repetition in her voice, and he realized he had been shrinking steadily deeper into his mind and away from her.

Now Joranum sat there, silent, obviously lost in thought, gnawing at the edge of one thumb as though trying to draw some sort of mental nourishment from it.

Each one wants a great deal of equality for itself—but not much equality for others.

despised, even, can be lived with. But being laughed at—that’s fatal.

They might prove to him that his idea was a poor one and he didn’t want that proof.

Intuition is the art, peculiar to the human mind, of working out the correct answer from data that is, in itself, incomplete or even, perhaps, misleading.”

Slowly Demerzel’s mouth widened into a grin. “Not bad. Can you make your eyes twinkle?” “What do you mean, ‘twinkle,’ ” said Dors indignantly. “No one makes their eyes twinkle. That’s a metaphorical expression.” “No, it’s not,” said Seldon. “There’s the hint of tears in the eye—sadness, joy, surprise, whatever—and the reflection of light from that hint of fluid is what does it.”

“You don’t need schooling to be a philosopher. Just an active mind and experience with life.

When the belief began to affect the pocketbooks of the population, it lost popularity rapidly.

They want to be treated as equals, they say, and so they do, but, given a chance, they have no desire to treat others as equals.”

“It’s all but impossible to change people’s minds and hearts, Raych. It’s enough to try and perhaps eliminate the worst of the injustices.”

In fact, the security establishment had declined in numbers and efficiency everywhere and (while this was hard to prove) had become more corrupt. It was inevitable this should be so, with pay refusing to keep pace with the cost of living. One must pay civil officials to keep them honest. Failing that, they would surely make up for their inadequate salaries in other ways.

“These gods,” said Namarti, continuing to follow his own line of thought, “are supposed to protect humanity and keep it safe or at least to care for those portions of humanity that know how to make use of the gods.

Good, thought Andorin. His galloping mind has finally wound itself down and he may talk sense now.

We’re all in this Galaxy to do our work and the work isn’t always pleasant.”

Why that should be, one couldn’t say. The word “tradition” covered it all, as it covered so many things, some useful, some foolish.

“We must all die someday, Wanda. I’ve explained that to you before. Just the same, we don’t worry about it till the someday is much closer.”

“You’re arguing rationally and rationality is not going to be in fashion for a while.

Lack of knowledge can increase what we might call the superstitious aspect of the situation.

When we fight, I’ll call her unreasonable, irrational, nagging, whining, inconsiderate—a million adjectives that will fit the situation. And she’ll have words for me. But they’ll all be sensible words that can be withdrawn when the fight is over.”

Lately Yugo had been speaking about the possible establishment of Foundations—separate, isolated, independent of the Empire itself—serving as seeds for developments through the forthcoming dark ages and into a new and better Empire. Seldon himself had been working on the consequences of such an arrangement.

if a person is ingenious enough and intent enough on proving something, he or she can find all the evidence he or she wants—or, at least, something he or she believes is evidence.”

There was so much more in the past, so much less in the future, that the mind turned away from the looming shadow ahead to contemplate the safety of what had gone before.

“Take him away from his work and he’ll die all the sooner—and unhappier. We have no choice.”

It seemed to him that he would dislike Mummery, even if he had no reason to do so.

“I hate that thing. It’s as heavy as sin and as hot as blazes.

An old friend and they had lost touch to such a degree that, when death came, it did so unknowingly.

Seldon nodded. “Thank you, Agis. Although you have brought me tragic news, at least you have brought it. Not knowing was worse. You are a true friend.” “And so, my friend,” said the Emperor, “I’ll leave you to yourself now—and your memories.”