Theor frowned at the digression. He hid the beginning of a sneer. “You can always dismiss an uncomfortable fact by pinning a dowdy label to it.”" - Meaning and context.">
Death Sentence (p. 158)

“Things in the past always seem greater.” Brand condescended with a smile. “There is a theorem to that effect which you’ll find in any elementary text. Freshmen invariably call it the ‘GOD Theorem.’ Stands for ‘Good-Old-Days,’ you know. But go on.”
Theor frowned at the digression. He hid the beginning of a sneer. “You can always dismiss an uncomfortable fact by pinning a dowdy label to it.”

— Isaac Asimov

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "“Things in the past always seem greater.” Brand condescended with a smile. “There is a theorem to that effect which you’ll find in any elementary text. Freshmen invariably call it the ‘GOD Theorem.’ Stands for ‘Good-Old-Days,’ you know. But go on.”
Theor frowned at the digression. He hid the beginning of a sneer. “You can always dismiss an uncomfortable fact by pinning a dowdy label to it.”" in the context of "Death Sentence (p. 158)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Isaac Asimov" (Quotes, Short fiction, The Early Asimov Book Two (1972): Page numbers from the mass market paperback edition, published by Fawcett Crest in December 1974 (second printing) See Isaac Asimov's Internet Science Fiction Database 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.