---
title: "4 Empire Quotes By Isaac Asimov"
description: "4 Empire quotes by Isaac Asimov. Plus more from Isaac Asimov and more Empire sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9c2/isaac-asimov-309_empire_but-it-was-more-than-a-planet-it-was-the_397964.jpg"
---

> [“But it was more than a planet; it was the living pulse beat of an Empire of twenty million stellar systems. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/but-it-was-more-than-a-planet-it-was-the-living-pulse-beat-of-an/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9c2/isaac-asimov-309_empire_but-it-was-more-than-a-planet-it-was-the_397964.jpg)

> [The fall of Empire, gentlemen, is a massive thing, however, and not easily fought. It is dictated by a rising bureaucracy, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/the-fall-of-empire-gentlemen-is-a-massive-thing-however-and-not/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc6/isaac-asimov-309_bureaucracy_the-fall-of-empire-gentlemen-is-a-massiv_1659410.jpg)

> [“Stoop, then, or you will be beaten to your knees. Stoop voluntarily, and you may save a remnant. You have depended on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/stoop-then-or-you-will-be-beaten-to-your-knees-stoop-voluntarily-and/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b1/isaac-asimov-309_empire_stoop-then-or-you-will-be-beaten-to-your_2557064.jpg)

> [“And Mallow laughed joyously. "You've missed, Sutt, missed as badly as the Commdor himself. You've missed everything, and understood nothing. The Empire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/and-mallow-laughed-joyously-you-ve-missed-sutt-missed-as-badly-as-the/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/870/isaac-asimov-309_economic-depression_and-mallow-laughed-joyously-you-ve-misse_2939865.jpg)

## Other authors on Empire

- [Linda Colley 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/empire/linda-colley/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-bent-larsen-17246.jpg) John Perkins 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/empire/john-perkins/)

## More by Isaac Asimov

> [The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/the-strain-of-anti-intellectualism-has-been-a-constant-thread-winding/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

> [Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know-and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/suppose-that-we-are-wise-enough-to-learn-and-know-and-yet-not-wise/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

> [Uncertainty that comes from knowledge (knowing what you don't know) is different from uncertainty coming from ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/uncertainty-that-comes-from-knowledge-knowing-what-you-don-t-know-is/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

> [“Don't you see? It's Galaxy-wide. It's a worship of the past. It's a deterioration - a stagnation!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/don-t-you-see-it-s-galaxy-wide-it-s-a-worship-of-the-past-it-s-a/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

> [So the universe is not quite as you thought it was. You'd better rearrange your beliefs, then. Because you certainly can't rearrange the universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/so-the-universe-is-not-quite-as-you-thought-it-was-you-d-better/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

> [It is in meeting the great tests that mankind can most successfully rise to great heights. Out of danger and restless insecurity comes the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/it-is-in-meeting-the-great-tests-that-mankind-can-most-successfully/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

> [“It might seem to you, Peter, that a truck driver, one step above an ape in your view, can't remember. But truck drivers can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/it-might-seem-to-you-peter-that-a-truck-driver-one-step-above-an-ape/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

> [When life is so harsh that a man loses all hope in himself, then he raises his eyes to a shining rock, worshipping it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/when-life-is-so-harsh-that-a-man-loses-all-hope-in-himself-then-he/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

> [“You are a military man and should know better. If there is one science into which man has probed continuously and successfully, it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/you-are-a-military-man-and-should-know-better-if-there-is-one-science/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

> [“temperatura constante de mais ou menos 21 graus”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/temperatura-constante-de-mais-ou-menos-21-graus/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

> [“Human beings can tolerate an immortal robot, for it doesn't matter how long a machine lasts, but they cannot tolerate an immortal human being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/human-beings-can-tolerate-an-immortal-robot-for-it-doesn-t-matter-how/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

> [“if people believe this, they would act on that belief. Many a prophecy, by the mere force of its being believed, is transmuted”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/if-people-believe-this-they-would-act-on-that-belief-many-a-prophecy/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

> [I do not use airplanes. They strike me as unsporting. You can have an automobile accident-and survive. You can be on a sinking ship-and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/i-do-not-use-airplanes-they-strike-me-as-unsporting-you-can-have-an/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

> [There are many aspects of the universe that still cannot be explained satisfactorily by science; but ignorance implies only ignorance that may someday be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/there-are-many-aspects-of-the-universe-that-still-cannot-be-explained/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

> [A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. \[The Second Law…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/a-robot-must-obey-the-orders-given-it-by-human-beings-except-where/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/empire/isaac-asimov/#itemlist",
            "name": "4 Empire Quotes By Isaac Asimov",
            "numberOfItems": 4,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“But it was more than a planet; it was the living pulse beat of an Empire of twenty million stellar systems. It had only one, function, administration; one purpose, government; and one manufactured product, law.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Isaac Asimov"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/but-it-was-more-than-a-planet-it-was-the-living-pulse-beat-of-an/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9c2/isaac-asimov-309_empire_but-it-was-more-than-a-planet-it-was-the_397964.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9c2/isaac-asimov-309_empire_but-it-was-more-than-a-planet-it-was-the_397964.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9c2/isaac-asimov-309_empire_but-it-was-more-than-a-planet-it-was-the_397964.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“But it was more than a planet; it was the living pulse beat of an Empire of twenty million stellar systems…” — Isaac Asimov",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "The fall of Empire, gentlemen, is a massive thing, however, and not easily fought. It is dictated by a rising bureaucracy, a receding initiative, a freezing of caste, a damming of curiosity — a hundred other factors. It has been going on, as I have said, for centuries, and it is too majestic and massive a movement to stop.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Isaac Asimov"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/the-fall-of-empire-gentlemen-is-a-massive-thing-however-and-not/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc6/isaac-asimov-309_bureaucracy_the-fall-of-empire-gentlemen-is-a-massiv_1659410.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc6/isaac-asimov-309_bureaucracy_the-fall-of-empire-gentlemen-is-a-massiv_1659410.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc6/isaac-asimov-309_bureaucracy_the-fall-of-empire-gentlemen-is-a-massiv_1659410.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“The fall of Empire, gentlemen, is a massive thing, however, and not easily fought. It is dictated by a…” — Isaac Asimov",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Stoop, then, or you will be beaten to your knees. Stoop voluntarily, and you may save a remnant. You have depended on metal and power and they have sustained you as far as they could. You have ignored mind and morale and they have failed you.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Isaac Asimov"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/stoop-then-or-you-will-be-beaten-to-your-knees-stoop-voluntarily-and/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b1/isaac-asimov-309_empire_stoop-then-or-you-will-be-beaten-to-your_2557064.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b1/isaac-asimov-309_empire_stoop-then-or-you-will-be-beaten-to-your_2557064.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b1/isaac-asimov-309_empire_stoop-then-or-you-will-be-beaten-to-your_2557064.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Stoop, then, or you will be beaten to your knees. Stoop voluntarily, and you may save a remnant. You have…” — Isaac Asimov",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“And Mallow laughed joyously. \"You've missed, Sutt, missed as badly as the Commdor himself. You've missed everything, and understood nothing. The Empire has always been a realm of colossal resources. They've calculated everything in planets, in stellar systems, in whole sectors of the Galaxy. Their generators are gigantic because they thought in gigantic fashion. \"But we,—we, our little Foundation, our single world almost without metallic resources,—have had to work with brute economy. Our generators have had to be the size of our thumb, because it was all the metal we could afford. We had to develop new techniques and new methods,—techniques and methods the Empire can't follow because they have degenerated past the stage where they can make any vital scientific advance. \"With all their nuclear shields, large enough to protect a ship, a city, an entire world; hey could never build one to protect a single man. To supply light and heat to a city, they have motors six stories high,—I saw them—where ours could fit into this room. And when I told one of their nuclear specialists that a lead container the size of a walnut contained a nuclear generator, he almost choked with indignation on the spot. \"Why, they don't even understand their own colossi any longer. The machines work from generation to generation automatically and the caretakers are a hereditary caste who would be helpless if a single D-tube in all that vast structure burnt out. \"The whole war is a battle between these two systems; between the Empire and the Foundation; between the big and the little. To seize control of a world, they bribe with immense ships that can make war, but lack all economic significance. We, on the other hand, bribe with little things, useless in war, but vital to prosperity and profits. \"A king, or a Commdor, will take the ships and even make war. Arbitrary rulers throughout history have bartered their subjects' welfare for what they consider honor, and glory, and conquest. But it's still the little things in life that count—and Asper Argo won't stand up against the economic depression that will sweep all Korell in two or three years.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Isaac Asimov"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/and-mallow-laughed-joyously-you-ve-missed-sutt-missed-as-badly-as-the/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/870/isaac-asimov-309_economic-depression_and-mallow-laughed-joyously-you-ve-misse_2939865.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/870/isaac-asimov-309_economic-depression_and-mallow-laughed-joyously-you-ve-misse_2939865.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/870/isaac-asimov-309_economic-depression_and-mallow-laughed-joyously-you-ve-misse_2939865.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“And Mallow laughed joyously. \"You've missed, Sutt, missed as badly as the Commdor himself. You've missed…” — Isaac Asimov",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/empire/isaac-asimov/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/empire/isaac-asimov/",
            "name": "Empire Quotes by Isaac Asimov",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/empire/isaac-asimov/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9c2/isaac-asimov-309_empire_but-it-was-more-than-a-planet-it-was-the_397964.jpg"
            },
            "description": "4 Empire quotes by Isaac Asimov. Plus more from Isaac Asimov and more Empire sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/empire/isaac-asimov/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/empire/isaac-asimov/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Empire",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/empire/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Isaac Asimov",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/empire/isaac-asimov/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
