Salvor Hardin

Are you [scientists], though? That's a nice hallucination, isn't it? Your bunch here is a perfect example of what's been wrong with the entire Galaxy for thousands of years. What kind of science is it to be stuck out here for centuries classifying the work of scientists of the last millennium? Have you ever thought of working onward, extending their knowledge and improving upon it? No! You're quite happy to stagnate.

• Foundation
  • p. 45 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

Fara turned to Hardin. "Didn't you study psychology under Alurin?"

Hardin answered, half in reverie: "Yes, I never completed my studies, though. I got tired of theory. I wanted to be a psychological engineer, but we lacked the facilities, so I did the next best thing—I went into politics. It's practically the same thing."

• Foundation
  • pp. 46-47 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

Hardin remained silent for a short while. Then he said, "When did Lameth write his book?"

"Oh—I should say about eight hundwed yeahs ago. Of cohse, he has based it lahgely on the pwevious wuhk of Gleen."

"Then why rely on him? Why not go to Arcturus and study the remains for yourself?"

Lord Dorwin raised his eyebrows and took a pinch of snuff hurriedly. "Why, whatevah foah, my dear fellow?"

"To get the information firsthand, of course."

"But wheah's the necessity? It seems an uncommonly woundabout and hopelessly wigmawolish method of getting anywheahs. Look heah, now, I've got the wuhks of all the old mastahs—the gweat ahchaeologists of the past. I weight them against each othah—balance the disagweements—analyze the conflicting statements—decide which is pwobably cowwect—and come to a conclusion. That is the scientific method. At least"—patronizingly—"as I see it. How insuffewably cwude it would be to go to Ahctuwus, oah to Sol, foah instance, and blundah about, when the old mastahs have covahed the gwound so much moah effectually than we could possibly hope to do."

Hardin murmured politely, "I see."

• Foundation
  • pp. 49-50 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

• Foundation
  • p. 54 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)
  • p. 89 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

"We are to do nothing, is that right, except to wait in quiet serenity and utter faith for the deus ex machina to pop out of the Vault?"

"Stripped of your emotional phraseology, that's the idea."

"Such unsubtle escapism! Really, Dr. Fara, such folly smacks of genius. A lesser mind would be incapable of it."

• Foundation
  • p. 54 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

"Seldon was not a magician. There are no trick methods of escaping from a dilemma that he can see and we can't."

"But, Hardin," reminded Fara, "we can't!"

"But you haven't tried. you haven't tried once. First, you refused to admit that there was a menace at all! Then you reposed an absolutely blind faith in the Emperor! Now you've shifted it to Hari Seldon. Throughout you have invariably relied on authority or on the past—never on yourselves."

His fists balled spasmodically. "It amounts to a diseased attitude—a conditioned reflex that shunts aside the independence of your minds whenever it is a question of opposing authority. There seems no doubt ever in your minds that the Emperor is more powerful than you are, or Hari Seldon wiser. And that's wrong, don't you see?"

• Foundation
  • p. 55 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

We sit here, considering the Encyclopedia the all-in-all. We consider the greatest end of science is the classification of past data. It is important, but is there no further work to be done? We're receding and forgetting, don't you see? Here in the Periphery they've lost nuclear power. In Gamma Andromeda, a power plant has undergone meltdown because of poor repairs, and the Chancellor of the Empire complains that nuclear technicians are scarce. And the solution? To train new ones? Never! Instead they're to restrict nuclear power.

• Foundation
  • p. 56 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

It's got to be done, you understand, with impudence. That is, there is to be no hesitation; no time to allow them to grasp the situation. Once we are in a position to give orders, why, give them as though you were born to do so, and they'll obey out of habit. That's the essence of a coup.

• Foundation
  • p. 57 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

Flattery is useful when dealing with youngsters—particularly when it doesn't commit you to anything.

• Foundation
  • p. 64 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

The temptation was great to muster what force we could and put up a fight. It's the easiest way out, and the most satisfactory to self-respect—but, nearly invariably, the stupidest.

• Foundation
  • p. 67 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.

• Foundation
  • p. 70 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

"But can we afford to take chances? Can we risk the present for the sake of a nebulous future?"

"We must—because the future isn't nebulous."

• Foundation
  • p. 73 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

I consider violence an uneconomical way of attaining an end. There are always better substitutes, though they may sometimes be a little less direct.

• Foundation
  • p. 89 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

A fire eater must eat fire even if he has to kindle it himself.

• Foundation
  • p. 99 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right!

• Foundation
  • p. 103 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well.

• Foundation
  • p. 126 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

Gratitude is best and most effective when it does not evaporate itself in empty phrases.

• Foundation and Empire
  • p. 259 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

Only a lie that [isn't] ashamed of itself [can] possibly succeed.

• Second Foundation
  • p. 415 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)

Nothing [has] to be true, but everything [has] to sound true.

• Second Foundation
  • pp. 415-416 ("The Foundation Trilogy", Easton Press, 2003)