Written back in the 1950s, Asimov envisions a Galactic Empire on the brink of Civil War and the steps necessary to move from a fractured state back to unity. Heavily influenced by Edward Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, the story focuses on the collapse of empire and the steps necessary to put it back together and all of the untold uncertainties involved.
Some of the great quotes from the book:
“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.”
― Isaac Asimov, Foundation“If you're born in a cubicle and grow up in a corridor, and work in a cell, and vacation in a crowded sun-room, then coming up into the open with nothing but sky over you might just give you a nervous breakdown.”
― Isaac Asimov, Foundation“With the destruction of our social fabric, science will be broken into a million pieces. Individuals will know much of exceedingly tiny facets of what there is to know.”
― Isaac Asimov, Foundation“Now any dogma, based primarily on faith and emotionalism, is a dangerous weapon to use on others, since it is almost impossible to guarantee that the weapon will never be turned on the user.”
― Isaac Asimov, Foundation“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”
― Isaac Asimov, Foundation“Weak emperors mean strong viceroys. ”
― Isaac Asimov, Foundation“Fighting and scars are part of a trader's overhead. But fighting is only useful when there's money at the end, and if I can get it without, so much the sweeter.”
― Isaac Asimov, Foundation