In a Good Cause—
long story by Isaac Asimov
"In a Good Cause—" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in a 1951 edition of the anthology New Tales of Space and Time and was reprinted in the collection Nightfall and Other Stories (1969).
The book begins with the description of a statue containing three dates and an epigram: "In a good cause, there are no failures. There are only delayed successes." This is followed by a section for each of the three dates.
Plot summary
The story opens with a description of a statue on the grounds of the United Worlds organization raised to Richard "Dick" Altmayer. It displays a quote and three dates, which correspond to the three days upon which he was arrested for crimes motivated by his beliefs. The first is in the year 2755 of the "Atomic Era" (corresponding to 4700 AD in Asimovean chronology). In each case the public is initially outraged by his action but ultimately considers him a hero.
Altmayer and his friend Geoffrey Stock have opposing positions when conscripted into military service for a war between human-occupied star systems. Stock willingly reports for military duty, whilst Altmayer protests, believing that the various interstellar nations of humanity should be united against the Diaboli, an intelligent non-human race that also occupies several planetary systems in the galaxy.
The public source identifies “In a Good Cause—” as long story by Isaac Asimov. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Good, Cause and long.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6011352. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1951 and 1969.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “In a Good Cause—” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.