Well, he used to say that only a lie that wasn't ashamed of itself could possibly succeed. He also said that nothing had to be true, but everything h… - Isaac Asimov

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

Only a lie that wasn't ashamed of itself could possibly succeed

To [the government] it didn't matter what happened to the American people as long as america in the abstract was kept strong.

I'm afraid you don't understand the situation. There's a good million of us here on Terminus, and not more than a hundred and fifty thousand are working directly on the Encyclopedia. To the rest of us, this is home. We were born here. We're living here. Compared with our farms and our homes and our factories, the Encyclopedia means little to us. We want them protected — ' He was shouted down. 'The Encyclopedia first,' ground out Crast. 'We have a mission to fulfil.' 'Mission, hell,' shouted Hardin. 'That might have been true fifty years ago. But this is a new generation.' 'That has nothing to do with it,' replied Pirenne. 'We are scientists.

A planet might deteriorate even if human beings existed upon it, if the society were itself abnormal and did not understand the importance of preserving the environment." "Surely," said Pelorat, "such a society would quickly be destroyed. I don't think it would be possible for human beings to fail to understand the importance of retaining the very factors that are keeping them alive.