# Prelude to Foundation - Author: [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) - Quotes: 26 - Book page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation ## Quotes > There is social and psychological inertia, as well as physical inertia. p. 457 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/there-is-social.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > 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? p. 281 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/why-he-wondered.md) Topics: [thinking](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking.md), [knowledge](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge.md) > “It is absolutely forbidden for the Imperial government to exercise any security control over the University or its members. There is complete freedom. Anything can be discussed here, anything can be said here.” > > “What about violent crime?” > > “Then the University authorities themselves handle it, with reason and care—and there are virtually no crimes of violence. The students and faculty appreciate their freedom and understand its terms. Too much rowdiness, the beginning of riot and bloodshed, and the government may feel it has the right to break the unwritten agreement and send in the troops. No one wants that, not even the government, so a delicate balance is maintained.” p. 78 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/it-is-absolutely.md) Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md) > Apparently, mathematics and the martial arts are not necessarily mutually exclusive. p. 95 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/apparently-mathematics-and.md) > I don’t want to believe it just because I want to believe it. p. 251 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/i-dont-want.md) Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md) > The cure for advanced gullibility is to go to sleep and consider matters again the next day. p. 253 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/the-cure-for.md) Topics: [thinking](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking.md) > All history shows that we do not learn from the lessons of the past. p. 17 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/all-history-shows.md) Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md), [the past](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past.md) > Walking is still the best form of short-distance transportation. It’s the most convenient, the cheapest, and the most healthful, Countless years of technological advance have not changed that. p. 43 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/walking-is-still.md) > You’re naïve Hari. Or not a historian, which is the same thing. p. 457 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/youre-naive-hari.md) Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > At the slightest stress, human beings seemed to divide themselves into antagonistic groups. p. 378 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/at-the-slightest.md) Topics: [society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md) > Asceticism among a ruling class—except for public show—is very rare. p. 295 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/asceticism-among-a-ruling.md) Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md) > It is not important what can or cannot be done. What is important is what people will or will not believe can be done. p. 447 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/it-is-not.md) Topics: [faith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith.md) > “But it’s been quiet under Cleon. And we’ve had fifty years of peace.” > > “Yes, but soldiers who are well-paid would resent having that pay reduced just because there is peace. Admirals resist mothballing ships and having themselves reduced in rank simply because there is less for them to do. So the credits still go—unproductively—to the armed forces and vital areas of the social good are allowed to deteriorate. That’s what I call decay. Don’t you?” p. 71 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/but-its-been.md) Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md) > But it seemed so likely to him that on every world the earliest histories were medleys of self-serving heroisms and minidramas that were meant as morality plays and were not to be taken literally. It was surely true of Helicon, yet you would find scarcely a Heliconian who would not swear by all the tales told and insist it was all true history. p. 237 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/but-it-seemed.md) Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > Mathematicians deal with large numbers sometimes, but never in their income. p. 25 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/mathematicians-deal-with.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md) > “As for status, that’s the sort of push and pull I’d just as soon avoid. I’ve seen many people with status, but I’m still looking for a happy one. Status won’t sit still under you; you have to continually fight to keep from sinking. p. 90 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/as-for-status.md) Topics: [happiness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness.md) > I have always dealt with economic forces, rather than philosophic forces, but you can’t split history into neat little nonoverlapping divisions. For instance, religions tend to accumulate wealth when successful and that eventually tends to distort the economic development of a society. p. 215 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/i-have-always.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > “It strikes me that no one could possibly want to be Emperor.” > > “No sane person would, I agree, but the ‘Imperial wish,’ as it is frequently called, is like a disease that, when caught, drives out sanity. And the closer you get to high office, the more likely you are to catch the disease.” p. 404 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/it-strikes-me-that.md) Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md) > Does said, “You’re not a…a believer?” > > “I’m a scholar,” said Mycelium with obvious pride. p. 272 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/does-said-youre.md) Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md) > “My field of specialization is the mathematical analysis of social structure.” > > “Sounds horrible.” p. 87 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/my-field-of-specialization.md) > There is too much history and there is too little of it that is told. p. 109 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/there-is-too.md) Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > We might not be able to give out the news for security reasons—that’s the excuse they always advance for hiding bad news—but I would know. p. 45 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/we-might-not.md) Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md) > You can always put something noble in a sneering fashion if you try. p. 391 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/you-can-always.md) > Yet even mathematicians must be young to begin with. p. 10 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/yet-even-mathematicians.md) > If all human beings understood history, they might cease making the same stupid mistakes over and over. p. 457 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/if-all-human.md) Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md), [mistakes](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mistakes.md) > It’s a dull world, full of farms and with lots of cattle, both four-legged and two-legged. p. 90 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/its-a-dull.md)