George said, “But he was a critic. How could he be anything else? You train for the post by maligning your mother.”" - Meaning and context.">
The Mind’s Construction (p. 168)

“He seemed so pleasant, so friendly, so grateful for little favors. How could I know that underneath it all he was a vicious, libelous hellhound.”
George said, “But he was a critic. How could he be anything else? You train for the post by maligning your mother.”

— Isaac Asimov

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "“He seemed so pleasant, so friendly, so grateful for little favors. How could I know that underneath it all he was a vicious, libelous hellhound.”
George said, “But he was a critic. How could he be anything else? You train for the post by maligning your mother.”" in the context of "The Mind’s Construction (p. 168)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Isaac Asimov" (Quotes, Short fiction, Azazel (1988): Page numbers from the mass market paperback edition, published by Bantam Spectra in February 1990, , (first printing) See Isaac Asimov's Internet Science Fiction Database page or the Wikipedia page for original publication details ) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Isaac Asimov

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.