Isaac Asimov Quotes

Everything I do now is a first.

I think we're a band with a lot of history now so it's nice to come up with something that doesn't have any history at all.

You try things creatively all the time, and while you want every one of them to be great, and you set out to do that, that's not always going to end up being the case.

I was in a comfortable situation, I was on tour, it was cool, but it wasn't at all what I wanted to do. So I had to leave it, start over. My friends were like, 'You were doing something, now you're back at day one.' So people kind of look at you different when you start over. Everyone needs to challenge themselves like that.

No matter how long your've been at it, you always start from scratch.

Each venture Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate With shabby equipment always deteriorating In the general mess of imprecision of feeling.

Every start on an untrodden path is a venture which only in unusual circumstances looks sensible and likely to succeed.

Being mystified is a good beginning, because you won't do what you've done before.

I'm a risk-taker. It's where my passion lies, so I don't want to play it safe. That means I'm going to fail sometimes.

You begin always knowing nothing. You remain forever an amateur, a first timer.

Just think of yourself as starting from zero every time. That's what I do with every new role. I'm at zero, and I'm going to do the work.

Everybody wants to make something they think is a surefire winner, though nobody knows what a surefire winner is, in my opinion.

It's really exciting to be a part of something new that's pushing boundaries.

Is it conceivable that a newly emancipated people can soar to the heights of liberty, and, unlike Icarus, neither have its wings melt nor fall into an abyss? Such a marvel is inconceivable and without precedent. There is no reasonable probability to bolster our hopes.

The best thing about endings is knowing that just ahead is the daunting task to start over.

No failure means no risk, which means nothing new

The ignorant are a reservoir of daring. It almost seems that those who have yet to discover the known are particularly equipped for dealing with the unknown. The unlearned have often rushed in where the learned feared to tread, and it is the credulous who are tempted to attempt the impossible. They know not whither they are going, and give chance a chance.

Is this what it means to go back to square one? Most likely. He had nothing left to lose, other than his life.

You never know exactly how new policies are going to work. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try them.

I'm always surprised when you do something very different that people don't get behind you more, because you're always told, "Take chances! Stretch!" And when you do it, sometimes people get really supportive and excited, but sometimes people go at you because you've tossed out the formula.

Am I more afraid Of taking a chance and learning I'm somebody I don't know, or of risking new territory, only to find I'm the same old me? There is comfort in the tried and true. Breaking ground might uncover a sinkhole, one impossible to climb out of. And setting sail in uncharted waters might mean capsizing into a sea monster's jaws. Easier to turn my back on these things than to try tjem and fail. And yet, a whisper insists I need to know if they are or aren't integral to me. Status quo is a swamp. And stagnation is slow death.

If you’re going to create, create a lot. Creativity is not like playing the slot machines, where failure to win means you go home broke. With creativity, if you don’t win, you’re usually no worse off than if you hadn’t played.

Now, I don't mean to say that being wrong is the same thing as being creative. What we do know is, if you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original. If you're not prepared to be wrong. And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong. And we run our companies like this, by the way, we stigmatize mistakes. And we're now running national education systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make.

Without risks, there can't be breakthroughs.

Failure is built into creativity... the creative act involves this element of 'newness' and 'experimentalism,' then one must expect and accept the possibility of failure.