The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
Had often been said that the only thing that could unite Mankind was a threat from space.
[T]hese leaders must not believe they are actually being watched, for their behavior in no way reflects the possible existence of a set of values or ethical laws that supersedes their own dominion.
When beauty is universal, it loses its power to move the heart,
Turing had pointed out that, if one could carry out a prolonged conversation with a machine—whether by typewriter or microphones was immaterial—without being able to distinguish between its replies an...
This hydrogen was under such enormous pressure that it had become a metal.
The thing’s hollow—it goes on forever—and—oh my God!—
The greatest danger is panic
The eruption had hurled the thing out of its normal environment, deep down in the flaming atmosphere of the sun. It was a miracle that it had survived its journey through space; already it must be dyi...
So the problem of Evil never really existed. To expect the universe to be benevolent was like imagining one could always win at a game of pure chance.
One by one he would conjure up the world’s major electronic papers; he knew the codes of the more important ones by heart, and had no need to consult the list on the back of his pad. Switching to the...
Much blood has also been spilled on the carpet in attempts to distinguish between science fiction and fantasy. I have suggested an operational definition: science fiction is something that COULD happe...
Martin’s one of the nicest fellows you could meet, as long as you don’t do it too often.
It is a good principle in science not to believe any 'fact'---however well attested---until it fits into some accepted frame of reference. Occasionally, of course, an observation can shatter the frame...
Instantly, there had been cries of protest from the industrial archaeologists, outraged at such vandalism, and from the naturalists, who pointed out that the penguins simply loved the abandoned pipeli...
He was prepared, he thought, for any wonder. The only thing he had never expected was the utterly commonplace.
He pressed the button, and waited. Several minutes later, a metal arm moved out from the bunk, and a plastic nipple descended toward his lips. He sucked on it eagerly, and a warm, sweet fluid coursed...
He felt like a young student again, confronted with all the art and knowledge of mankind. The experience was both exhilarating and depressing; a whole universe lay at his fingertips, but the fraction...
Do you believe in ghosts, Dim? Certainly not: but like every sensible man, I’m afraid of them. Why do you ask?
And because, in all the Galaxy, they had found nothing more precious than Mind, they encouraged its dawning everywhere. They became farmers in the fields of stars; they sowed, and sometimes they reape...