The Gods Themselves Quotes

“There are no happy endings in history, only crisis points that pass.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“It is a mistake," he said, " to suppose that the public wants the environment protected or their lives saved and that they will be grateful to any idealist who will fight for such ends. What the public wants is their own individual comfort. We know that well enough from our experience in the environmental crisis of the twentieth century. Once it was well known that cigarettes increased the incidence of lung cancer, the obvious remedy was to stop smoking, but the desired remedy was a cigarette that did not cause cancer. When it became clear that the internal-combustion engine was polluting the atmosphere dangerously, the obvious remedy was to abandon such engines, and the desired remedy was to develop non-polluting engines.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“Author's Note: This story starts with section 6. This is not a mistake. I have my own subtle reasoning. So, just read, and enjoy.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“Who?”
“Schiller. A German dramatist of three centuries ago. In a play about Joan of Arc, he said, ‘Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.’ I’m no god and I’ll contend no longer. Let it go, Pete, and go your way. Maybe the world will last our time and, if not, there’s nothing that can be done anyway. I’m sorry, Pete. You fought the good fight, but you lost, and I’m through.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“It is a mistake,” he said, “to suppose that the public wants the environment protected or their lives saved and that they will be grateful to any idealist who will fight for such ends. What the public wants is their own individual comfort.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“Does everyone just believe what he wants to?"

"As long as possible. Sometimes longer."

"What about you?"

"You mean, am I human? Certainly. I don't believe I'm really old. I believe I'm quite attractive. I believe you seek out my company because you think I'm charming - even when you insist on turning the conversation to physics.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“Contra la estupidez, los propios dioses luchan en vano”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“You don't beat refusal to believe in a frontal attack.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“On Earth, we are unmanned by our longing for a pastoral past that never really existed; and that, if it had existed, could never exist again...on the Moon, there is no past to long for or dream about. There is no direction but forward.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“you can’t just move backward. You can’t push the chicken back into the egg, wine back into the grape, the boy back into the womb. If you want the baby to let go of your watch, you don’t just try to explain that he ought to do it—you offer him something he would rather have.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“Of such things, petty annoyance and aimless thrusts, is history made.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“Schiller. A German dramatist of three centuries ago. In a play about Joan of Arc, he said, ‘Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.’ I’m no god and I’ll contend no longer.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“La forma más fácil de solucionar un problema es negar su existencia.”
― Isaac Asimov, Los propios dioses

“There's a certain drama in going down in a good cause.
Any decent politician is masochistic enough to dream now and then of going down in flames while the
angels sing. But, -Dr. Lamont, to do that one has to have a fighting chance. One has to have something to
fight for that may— justmay— win out.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“Schiller. A German dramatist of three centuries ago. In a play about Joan of Arc, he said, ‘Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“It's really disheartening, the universal stupidity. I think that I wouldn't grieve at mankind's suicide through sheer evilness of heart, or through mere recklessness. There's something so damned undignified at going to destruction through sheer thickheaded stupidity. What's the use of being men if that's how you have to die.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“To mankind, and the hope that the war against folly may someday be won after all.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“An insolubility is not a problem.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“His idiot face gets redder and his eyes bulge and his ears block. I’d say his mind stops functioning, but I lack the proof of any other state from which it might stop.” Bronowski”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“All they have to do is refuse to believe it means death. The easiest way to solve a problem is to deny it exists.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“There was something I tried to put in, Gottstein, but between my not knowing how to phrase it and
Earth's reluctance to grasp my meaning, we ended up not communicating.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“Once it was well known that cigarettes increased the incidence of lung cancer, the obvious remedy was to stop smoking, but the desired remedy was a cigarette that did not encourage cancer. When it became clear that the internal-combustion engine was polluting the atmosphere dangerously, the obvious remedy was to abandon such engines, and the desired remedy was to develop non-polluting engines.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“Any decent politician is masochistic enough to dream now and then of going down in flames while the angels sing.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“Who?”
“Schiller. A German dramatist of three centuries ago. In a play about Joan of Arc, he said, ‘Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.’ I’m no god and I’ll contend no longer. Let it go, Pete, and go your way. Maybe the world will last our time and, if not, there’s nothing that can be done anyway. I’m sorry, Pete. You fought the good fight, but you lost, and I’m through.”

It worked perfectly. The Obin had enough time for a surprised squawk before the hovercraft’s gun struck it square in the chest, punching backward like it was a toy on a string, hurling down nearly the entire length of the hall. The other Obin in the room looked up while Harvey’s victim pinwheeled to the ground, then turned their multiple eyes toward the doorway, Harvey, and the hovercraft with its big gun poking right into the room.
“Hello, boys!” Harvey said in a big, booming voice. “The 2nd Platoon sends its regards!” And with that, he jammed down the “fire” button on the gun and set to work.
Things got messy real fast after that. It was just fucking beautiful.
Harvey loved his job.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“There’s something so damned undignified at going to destruction through sheer thickheaded stupidity. What’s the use of being men if that’s how you have to die.” “Stupidity,” muttered Bronowski.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“It’s really disheartening, the universal stupidity. I think that I wouldn’t grieve at mankind’s suicide through sheer evilness of heart, or through mere recklessness. There’s something so damned undignified at going to destruction through sheer thickheaded stupidity. What’s the use of being men if that’s how you have to die.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“There were times when a Rational could be too Rational, and chase down the tracks of every thought to the detriment of what was important.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“Pions are the mediating particles of the strong nuclear interaction. The intensity of the interaction depends on the mass of the pions and that mass can, under certain specialized conditions, be altered. The Lunar physicists have developed an instrument they call the Pionizer, which can be made to do jut such a thing. Once the pion's mass is decreased, or increased for that matter, it is, effectively, part of another Universe; it becomes a gateway, a crossing point.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“And one day he said, "I'm going to see Hallam again."
Bronowski's eyebrows lifted. "What for?"
"To have him turn me down."
"Yes, that's about your speed, Pete. You're unhappy if your troubles die down a bit.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“É realmente muito desanimadora essa estupidez universal. Acho que eu não sofreria tanto se o suicídio da humanidade resultasse apenas de pura maldade de coração ou por mera inconsequência. Mas é de uma falha tão desgraçada de dignidade, que estamos a ponto de nos destruir como fruto da mais obtusa e impenetrável estupidez.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves