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Who really said it

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom

Written by Isaac Asimov 1920–1992 · American writer & professor of biochemistry
Verified In copyright

Asimov wrote it himself. The line is printed as the epigraph opening Chapter 72, “Science and Society,” on page 281 of Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988), which he edited with Jason A. Shulman. Quote Investigator ↗ verified that page with scans and concludes Asimov deserves credit for the remark he published in 1988.

Last verified 22 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Verified quote & credit

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom” Isaac Asimov, Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations, ed. Isaac Asimov and Jason A. Shulman (New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988), 281.

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by The estate of Isaac Asimov and the publisher (Weidenfeld & Nicolson / Blue Cliff Editions)). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

Evoking the world of Isaac Asimov — American writer & professor of biochemistry. Theme: "The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

The documented source

Work
Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations
Placement
Chapter 72, “Science and Society” — chapter epigraph, p. 281
Edited by
Isaac Asimov and Jason A. Shulman
First published
1988 · A Blue Cliff Editions Book: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, New York

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.

The book is an anthology of other people’s science and nature quotations, but this sentence is Asimov’s own: it stands as the epigraph at the head of the “Science and Society” chapter rather than as an entry credited to someone else.

Quote Investigator: “Science Gathers Knowledge Faster Than Society Gathers Wisdom”

How we verified this

  • 1988 — the source. Quote Investigator ↗ cites the line at quote page 281 of Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations, Chapter 72: Science and Society, as the chapter epigraph — and marks the citation “Verified with scans.”
  • The book is real and catalogued. The Internet Archive record ↗ confirms the edition: Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations, associated name Jason Shulman, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, New York, 1988.
  • 2006 — the anthologies pick it up. Quote Investigator logs it credited to Asimov in Geoff Tibballs’s The Mammoth Book of Zingers, Quips and One-Liners (p. 562) and Reader’s Digest’s Treasury of Wit & Wisdom (p. 146), both verified with scans ↗.
  • 2011 — the wording drifts. Michio Kaku quoted it in Physics of the Future (p. 350) as “The saddest aspect of society right now…” — expressly prefaced “As Isaac Asimov once said,” per Quote Investigator ↗.
In copyright

The work containing this line, Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations, was first published in 1988, so it is well inside the term of U.S. copyright — nothing here is public domain. The sentence is quoted on this page for identification and commentary.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

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Fact-check

What actually goes wrong with this one

The author is right; the wording is what travels badly. Two altered forms circulate widely, and the second one travels inside a Michio Kaku paragraph, which is where the wording drift comes from.

“Science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” Truncated

The headless version, stripped of “The saddest aspect of life right now is that,” circulates on unsourced quote sites — for example this Goodreads entry ↗, which gives no book source at all. The sentiment survives; the printed sentence does not.

“The saddest aspect of society right now…” One word swapped

Michio Kaku printed this variant on page 350 of Physics of the Future (2011), attributing it to Asimov, as Quote Investigator documents ↗. The 1988 book reads “life,” not “society.”

Michio Kaku Quoter, not author

Because the line reached many readers through Physics of the Future, Kaku is sometimes taken for its author. He is not: the passage ↗ quotes it explicitly — “As Isaac Asimov once said” — inside a longer paragraph that Goodreads bylines to Michio Kaku, which is exactly how the confusion starts.

Isaac Asimov wrote it, and the accurate wording is the 1988 one: “The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom” — verified with scans at p. 281 ↗.

Context

Why it landed

It is an odd little fact that one of the most-quoted lines about the limits of science was published in a book of other people’s quotations. Asimov and Jason A. Shulman assembled the 1988 anthology from centuries of scientists and writers, and, as Quote Investigator records, the book’s 86 sections each open with a quotation from Asimov himself. This one heads the chapter called “Science and Society.”

That placement explains the shape of the sentence. It is not an aphorism polished for a lecture hall; it is an editor’s framing note, written to set up a chapter, and it carries the flat resignation of someone who had spent decades explaining research to the public and watching the public do what it liked with it.

Science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.

How to cite it without repeating the common errors

Use “life,” not “society,” in the opening clause — the “society” form is a later variant, documented in Michio Kaku’s Physics of the Future (2011).

Cite the book, not a quote site: Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations, ed. Isaac Asimov and Jason A. Shulman (New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988), 281.

Keep the full sentence. The truncated “Science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom” is a paraphrase of a real line, not the line.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Wisdom Knowledge Change

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Quote Origin: Science Gathers Knowledge Faster Than Society Gathers Wisdomquoteinvestigator.com

The definitive investigation: cites the 1988 book at p. 281, verified with scans, and tracks the 2006 anthology reprints and Kaku’s 2011 variant.
Isaac Asimov — Wikiquoteen.wikiquote.org

Lists the quote with the same sourcing: Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), edited with Jason A. Shulman, p. 281.
Isaac Asimov’s book of science and nature quotationsarchive.org

Internet Archive catalogue record for the 1988 Weidenfeld & Nicolson edition, listing Asimov and Shulman.
Isaac Asimov — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org

Biography: born around 2 January 1920, died 6 April 1992; writer and professor of biochemistry who wrote or edited more than 500 books.
The saddest aspect of life right now …libquotes.com

An independent listing that carries the full correct wording together with the 1988 Weidenfeld & Nicolson, p. 281 citation.
Physics of the Future quotationsgoodreads.com

Shows the 2011 Kaku passage that spread the “saddest aspect of society” variant — prefaced “As Isaac Asimov once said.”

The true author

Who was Isaac Asimov?

Isaac Asimov

1920–1992 · American writer & professor of biochemistry

Isaac Asimov was born in Russia around 2 January 1920, naturalised as a U.S. citizen in 1928, and became both a professor of biochemistry and one of the most prolific authors in publishing history — Wikipedia records that he wrote or edited more than 500 books. He is best known for the Foundation series and I, Robot, but the bulk of his output was non-fiction: popular science, history, and reference works aimed squarely at the general reader. He died on 6 April 1992.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source

Asimov, Isaac, and Jason A. Shulman, eds. Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations. New York: Blue Cliff Editions / Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988, 281 (epigraph to Chapter 72, “Science and Society”).

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom’?” Last verified 22 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/the-saddest-aspect-of-life-right-now-is-that-science/

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