Ralston snorted.
“You do not consider that to be so?” asked Blaustein.
“No, I don’t. There are no important men, any more than there are important individual bacteria.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I don’t expect you to.”" - Meaning and context.">
“Breeds There a Man…?” (p. 416)

“You are an important man–”
Ralston snorted.
“You do not consider that to be so?” asked Blaustein.
“No, I don’t. There are no important men, any more than there are important individual bacteria.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I don’t expect you to.”

— Isaac Asimov

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "“You are an important man–”
Ralston snorted.
“You do not consider that to be so?” asked Blaustein.
“No, I don’t. There are no important men, any more than there are important individual bacteria.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I don’t expect you to.”" in the context of "“Breeds There a Man…?” (p. 416)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Isaac Asimov" (Quotes, Short fiction, The Complete Stories, Volume 1 (1990): Page numbers from the trade paperback edition, published by Broadway Books in 2001, , (11th 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.