"It is by the Imperial Capital that contemporaries 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."

Isaac Asimov Science See all quotes by Isaac Asimov →

React to this quote

More by Isaac Asimov

See all

“Milton Ashe is not the type to marry a head of hair and a pair of eyes.”

“Creationists don't want equal time, … they want all the time there is.”

“To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today.”

“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”

“If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.”

“The unwritten motto of United States Robot and Mechanical Men Corp. was well-known: “No employee makes the same mistake twice. He is fired the first time.”

Resonant Thoughts

"Believe me, there is no such thing as great suffering, great regret, great memory...Everything is forgotten, even great love."

— Albert Camus

Literature1913–1960

#love

"If a great person has omitted rewarding your services, do not talk of it; perhaps he may not yet have had an opportunity, for they have always on hand expectants innumerable, and the clamorous are too…"

— James Burgh

Politics1714–1775

#justice

"I believe that people want to turn from fear towards hope, from divisiveness towards unity, from intolerance to an understanding that we all belong to one great community. Within all the chaos, within…"

— Jennifer Beals

Entertainment1963

#knowledge

"To history we shall adhere no farther, than is sufficient to preserve an unbroken series of methods gradually becoming more exact and extensive; the series beginning with the first rude, though perfec…"

— Robert Woodhouse

Mathematics1773–1827

#justice