The single definition of government I've ever seen that makes sense is that it's the organization which claims the right to kill people who won't do what it wants.

There are some ideas so stupid that only intellectuals can believe in them, particularly left-wing intellectuals.

My knowledge of the human psyche is as yet imperfect. Certain areas won't yield to computation.

Machines can only find what ignorant men have programmed them to find.

In Harvest of Stars, there is this notion, not original with me of course, that it will become possible to download at least the basic aspects of a human personality into a machine program.

I wrote the first book, Harvest of Stars, and as I was writing it, I saw that certain implications had barely been touched on... It's perfectly obvious that two completely revolutionary things are going on, with cybernetics, and biological science.

Better a life like a falling star, brief bright across the dark, than the long, long waiting of the immortals, loveless and cheerlessly wise.