Айзек Азимов цитаты

страница 9

„Если читать Библию внимательно, то убедишься в правоте атеизма.“

„Если врач скажет, что мне осталось жить пять минут, я не буду рвать на себе волосы. Просто я стану печатать на машинке немного быстрее.“

„В отличие от шахмат, в жизни игра продолжается и после мата.“

„Ни одно здравое решение не может быть принято без принятия во внимание не только мира, как он есть, но и мира, каким он будет.“

„Люди на земле должны дружить. Не думаю, что можно заставить всех людей любить друг друга, но я желал бы уничтожить ненависть между людьми.“

„Замечательное чувство — знать, что ты сам строишь мир.“

„Современная теория создания мира согласно Библии звучит так, будто бы ее создатель сидел и пил целую ночь.“

„Имхотеп был первым архитектором. Он предпринял строительство мастабы для Джосера. Это было первое большое каменное сооружение во всем мире.“

„Бюрократия разрастается, чтобы поспеть за потребностями разрастающейся бюрократии.“

„Каждый волен верить, во что он хочет. Я только против того, чтобы заставлять всех верить во что-то одно.“

„Никогда не позволяйте морали удерживать вас от правильных поступков.“

„Я уверен: книгу ничто не заменит в будущем, так же как ничто не могло заменить её в прошлом.“

„Существует так много способов убивать время, что некоторыми приходится жертвовать.“

„Предрассудки обычно правят людьми при отсутствии достоверных знаний.“

„Психиатр приветствует психиатра: «Вы в полном порядке, а я?»“

„Самая волнующая фраза, какую можно услышать в науке, — фраза, возвещающая о новых открытиях, — вовсе не «Эврика!», а «Вот забавно…».“

„Лучше знать, даже если знание очень скоро повлечет за собой гибель, чем обрести вечную жизнь ценой тусклого скотского непонимания вселенной, которая невидимо для нас бурлит во всем своем волшебстве.“

„Существует только один светильник науки, и зажечь его в каком-либо месте — значит зажечь везде.“

„Первое правило диетики: если это вкусно, значит, это вредно для вас.“

„Пытаюсь ли я найти Бога? Бог умнее меня. Пусть попробует найти меня сам.“

„Существует единый свет науки, и зажечь его где-либо означает зажечь его везде.“

„Бессонница — это когда не можешь спать, даже когда уже пора просыпаться.“

„Предположим, что мы достаточно мудры, чтобы узнавать и знать, однако еще недостаточно мудры, чтобы контролировать свой процесс познания и сами знания, а потому используем их себе во вред. Даже если и так, знание все равно лучше, чем невежество.“

„Мух гораздо больше, чем людей.“

„Эй, это не летающая тарелка! Это моя задница!“

„Я думаю, индивидуальность важнее интеллекта.“

“Happiness is doing it rotten your own way.”

“I fear my ignorance.”

“Although the time of death is approaching me, I am not affraid of dying and going to hell or (what would be considered worse) going to a popularized version of heaven. I expect death to be nothingness and for removing me from all possible fears of death, I am thankful to atheism.”

“Emotionally, I am an atheist. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time. z Free Inquiry, jar 1982”

“If I am right, then (religious fundamentalists) will not go to Heaven, because there is no Heaven. If they are right, then they will not go to Heaven, because they are hypocrites.”

“We can hope that the ways of peace will attract the Arabic nations, for their territory and opportunities are broad enough for immeasurable advance, if the energies vented in spleen, are turned instead to a modernisation of the technology, a restoration of the soil, and a renovation of the economic, social, and political structure of those great and venerable lands.”

“The job of science will never be done, it will just sink deeper and deeper into never-ending complexity.”

“The best way to describe anyone is to give an example of the kind of thing he would do.”

“Necessity makes a joke of civilization.”

“It is my own experience … that commentators are far more ingenious at finding meaning than authors are at inserting it.”

“Certain success evicts one from the paradise of winning against the odds.”

“There is less trouble and trauma involved in writing a new piece than in trying to salvage an unsatisfactory old one.”

“Science Digest asked me to see the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind and write an article for them on the science it contained. I saw the picture and was appalled. I remained appalled even after a doctor’s examination had assured me that no internal organs had been shaken loose by its ridiculous soundwaves. (If you can’t be good, be loud, some say, and Close Encounters was very loud.) … Hollywood must deal with large audiences, most of whom are utterly unfamiliar with good science fiction. It has to bend to them, meet them at least half-way. Fully appreciating that, I could enjoy Planet of the Apes and Star Wars.”

“Probably, the most-often-repeated lesson in history is that foreigners who are called in to help one side in a civil war take over for themselves. It is a lesson that seems never to be learned despite endless repetition.”

“It is by the Imperial Capital that contemporaries (and posterity, too) judge an Empire, and its magnificence impresses them mightily and leads them to judge the Emperor a great man and hero, even though it may all be based on robbery, and though the provinces of the Empire may be sunk in misery.”

“Religion is more conservative than any other aspect of human life.”

“People who want to do so can lose weight most safely and permanently if they realize that above all they must be patient. ... It is better to eat a little less at each meal than impulse would suggest and to do that constantly. Add to this a little more exercise or activity than impulse suggests and keep that up constantly too. A few less calories taken in each day and a few more used up will decrease weight, slowly, to be sure, but without undue misery. And with better long-range results too.”

“Start with a planet like the earth, with a complement of simple compounds bound to exist upon it, add the energy of a nearby sun, and you are bound to end with nucleic acids. You can't avoid it.”

“I don't believe in flying saucers... The energy requirements of interstellar travel are so great that it is inconceivable to me that any creatures piloting their ships across the vast depths of space would do so only in order to play games with us over a period of decades.”

“If, as I maintain and firmly believe, there is no objective definition of intelligence, and what we call intelligence is only a creation of cultural fashion and subjective prejudice, what the devil is it we test when we make use of an intelligence test?”

“I simply don't think it is reasonable to use IQ tests to produce results of questionable value, which may then serve to justify racists in their own minds and to help bring about the kinds of tragedies we have already witnessed earlier in this century.”

“A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.”

“Generals are, as a matter of course, allowed to be far more idiotic than ordinary human beings are permitted to be.”

“In the world of today can there be peace anywhere until there is peace everywhere?”

“Generals are usually a conservative force who can be relied on to oppose social change.”

“Well, it was healthy to miss once in a while. It kept self-confidence balanced at a point safely short of arrogance.”

“At least try to see my motives. Granted that I was foolish—criminally foolish—can’t you understand? Can’t you try not to hate me?”

“Then why did you run? A man who runs needs no other accusation.”

“You make interstellar politics sound a very dirty game.”