Chapter 1 “Councilman” section 1, p. 4
“
At odd and unpredictable times, we cling in fright to the past.
— Isaac Asimov
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "At odd and unpredictable times, we cling in fright to the past." in the context of "Chapter 1 “Councilman” section 1, p. 4" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "Isaac Asimov" (Quotes, The Foundation series (1951–1993): The earliest eight Foundation short stories were published between May 1942 and January 1950, but these began to be reworked into the novels of the overall series in 1951., Foundation’s Edge (1982): All page numbers from the mass market edition published by Del Rey (17th printing, March 1989) )
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
About Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov (c. 2 January 1920 – 6 April 1992) was a Russian-born American biochemist who was a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction, his works include the Foundation series and I, Robot.
About Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov (c. 2 January 1920 – 6 April 1992) was a Russian-born American biochemist who was a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction, his works include the Foundation series and I, Robot.
View all quotes →