When asked for advice by beginners. Know your ending, I say, or the river of your story may finally sink into the desert sands and never reach the sea.
Interpretation
Planning your journey is crucial to avoid failing to achieve your goals.
Isaac Asimov emphasizes the importance of having a clear vision or destination when embarking on any endeavor. Without knowing where you want to end up, your efforts may become misguided, leading to wasted time and potential, similar to how a river may dry up leaving it unable to reach the ocean if it loses its course.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech to inspire students about the importance of planning their future.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies.
Science does not promise absolute truth, nor does it consider that such a thing necessarily exists. Science does not even promise that everything in the Universe is amenable to the scientific process.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation.
Although the time of death is approaching me, I am not afraid of dying and going to Hell or (what would be considerably worse) going to the 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.
A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.
During the century after Newton, it was still possible for a man of unusual attainments to master all fields of scientific knowledge. But by 1800, this had become entirely impracticable.
Sometimes it is harder to deprive oneself of a pain than of a pleasure.
Logical activity is not the whole of intelligence. One can be intelligent without being particularly logical.
Do more than be fair: be kind.
I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business.
It would be a terrific innovation if you could get your mind to stretch a little further than the next wisecrack.
The bold are helpless without cleverness.
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