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“Yet another proof that by his very nature man was closer to the animal world than woman, that the feral principle was more pronounced in man, and therefore the true variety of Homo sapiens was indeed woman - the more advanced, subtle, and complex being.”

On democracy, “One man is unequal to another from the very beginning, and there is nothing you can do about it. The democratic principle infringes the rights of those who are more intelligent, more talented, and harder working; it places them in a position of dependence on the foolish will of the stupid, talentless, and lazy, because society always contains more of the latter.”

“Often [Robert] wearily considered his existence, ringed around with little defeats which mocked it as street children torment a cripple.”

“Sometimes when I hear that something or other is selling at a fraction of its normal cost, I comment that the fraction is probably 4/3, and am met with a blank stare.”

Hagiographic humor, like when Father Quixote thinks of the following passage from Saint Augustine, "Some have such command of their bowels, that they can break wind continuously at pleasure, so as to produce the effect of singing." "City of God" Book XIV, Chapter 24

Hagiographic humor, like when Father Quixote thinks of the following passage from Saint Augustine, "Some have such command of their bowels, that they can break wind continuously at pleasure, so as to produce the effect of singing." "City of God" Book XIV, Chapter 24

"It was a wild and stormy winter's night."

Who really wins - the Mule or Magnifico?

"His work consisted largely of what the War Department called “intelligence,” the sophisticates, “espionage,” and the romanticists, “spy stuff.” And, unfortunately, despite the frothy shrillness of the televisors, “intelligence,” “espionage,” and “spy stuff” are at best a sordid business of routine betrayal and bad faith."

"The laws of history are as absolute as the laws of physics, and if the probabilities of error are greater, it is only because history does not deal with as many humans as physics does atoms, so that individual variations count for more." Bayta, p. 112

"Words are a pretty fuzzy substitute for mathematical equations." p. 96

"Against such lewdsters and their lechery
Those that betray them do no treachery."
~ Mistress Page, The Merry Wives of Windsor

I'm a fan of Asimov, but this is my third time starting the book (spread out over a few decades). The inertia from "Prelude..." carried me far enough that I will finish this time; I stalled out in the past on the dry drama.

I'm enjoying the view of civilization, history, sociology and statistical mass psychology in "psychohistory", and look forward to seeing it unfold in the next section.

"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."
"...The last refuge!"
~ Salvor Hardin

"...all, all may have happened as you said, but that doesn't force your interpretation of the meaning of the events to be true." ~ Hummin, "Prelude to Foundation" p. 481 by Isaac Asimov

"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?" Hari Seldon, p. 281, "Prelude to Foundation" by Isaac Asimov