[Euphemius] it would be a brilliant notion to call in an outside force to fight on his behalf. This same brilliant notion has occurred to participants in civil wars uncounted times in history and it has ended in catastrophe just about every time, since those called in invariably take over for themselves. Of all history's lessons, this seems to be the plainest, and the most frequently ignored." - Meaning and context.">
QuotesCosmos
Constantinople: The Forgotten Empire (1970), p. 153
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It seemed to him [Euphemius] it would be a brilliant notion to call in an outside force to fight on his behalf. This same brilliant notion has occurred to participants in civil wars uncounted times in history and it has ended in catastrophe just about every time, since those called in invariably take over for themselves. Of all history's lessons, this seems to be the plainest, and the most frequently ignored.

— Isaac Asimov

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "It seemed to him [Euphemius] it would be a brilliant notion to call in an outside force to fight on his behalf. This same brilliant notion has occurred to participants in civil wars uncounted times in history and it has ended in catastrophe just about every time, since those called in invariably take over for themselves. Of all history's lessons, this seems to be the plainest, and the most frequently ignored." in the context of "Constantinople: The Forgotten Empire (1970), p. 153" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Isaac Asimov" (Quotes, General sources, 1957–1970) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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#Isaac Asimov#brilliant#notion#participants#catastrophe#invariably#themselves#frequently#euphemius#uncounted#occurred#historys
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.