Isaac was genuinely proud and happy about his accomplishments. After he died, I came across a piece of paper upon which he’d written in ink (perhaps after he first got sick): Over a space of 40 years, I sold an item every ten days on the average. Over the space of the second 20 years, I sold an item every six days on the average. Over a space of 40

“In my life, I have had Janet and I have had my daughter, Robyn, and my son, David; I have had a large number of good friends; I have had my writing and the fame and fortune it has brought me; and no matter what happens to me now, it’s been a good life, and I am satisfied with it. “So please don’t worry about me, or feel bad. Instead I only hope

It took Janet two or three days to fully realize what had happened. She had lost one of her two small breasts and she wept bitterly. I managed to worm out of her the real reason for her weeping. She felt “maimed.” We were not yet married and she was convinced that, with nothing legal to hold me, I would simply drift off and find someone who was

The operation gave me occasion to prove how delightful it was to be a writer. Carl charged me $1,500 for the operation (well worth it) and I later wrote up a funny article about it (including my little verse) and charged $2,000 for the piece. Ha, ha, and how do you like that, you old medical profession, you? (I was happier than ever I hadn’t been

My certainty concerning my state of health was such that I rarely saw doctors except when it was obviously necessary. In part, that was the result of childhood conditioning too. My parents were poor, and doctors cost money. (Not much, to be sure. In my childish days, doctors paid house calls and charged three dollars to do so, but three dollars was

By the time I had returned to New York, I was quite confident of my ability to write on any subject I pleased without expecting critical obliteration.

The ideal proofreader should be, in my opinion, knowledgeable about every aspect of spelling, punctuation, and grammar, while being slightly dyslexic.

The most fun I’ve ever had, writing, was when I wrote my autobiographies. After all, what more interesting subject can I have than myself? Leaving this out of account, however, Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare was the most pleasant work I had ever done.

In 1968, I therefore began to write Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare, intending to go over every one of his plays carefully, explaining all the allusions and archaisms, and discussing all his references involving history, geography, mythology, or anything else I thought could use discussion.