The age of the pulp magazine was the last in which youngsters, to get their primitive material, were forced to be literate.
Interpretation
Literacy was essential for young people to engage with the pulp magazines of the past.
Isaac Asimov reflects on a time when pulp magazines required readers, particularly the youth, to be literate to access various narratives and information. This highlights the critical role that reading and literacy played in shaping the perspectives and knowledge of younger generations, as they sought enjoyment and understanding through print media.
In practice
Using this quote during a literacy campaign to emphasize the importance of reading.
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.
I am not your dear; I cannot lie down: send me to school soon, Mrs. Reed, for I hate to live here.
Out of the homes of America will come the future citizens of America, and only as those homes are what they should be will this nation be what it should be.
Schools across India do not have teachers, libraries, playing grounds and even toilets. I do not want to see empty classrooms, empty libraries. I do not want to see cattle grazing on fields meant to be cricket or football grounds.
We men of study, whose heads are in our books, have need to be straightly looked after! We dream in our waking moments, and walk in our sleep.
My parents believed in education and economic security, and I thank them for it. Because I think that's part of what's made my life stable. It was instilled in me. You have to be able to pay your bills. You do not get into debt. And I never have been.
Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.