How we cite our quotes: (Story title.paragraph)
Quote #1
"It was all quite ridiculous and quite useless. And yet there it was." (Introduction.35)
This is Calvin talking about human opposition to robots. Notice how this human folly is both a) silly and b) ineffective. If it were only one of those things—say, if people were right to oppose robots but still ineffective, or if people were silly to oppose robots but effective in their opposition—then this wouldn't be folly, but tragedy.
Quote #2
"Most of the villagers consider Robbie dangerous. Children aren't allowed to go near our place in the evenings." (Robbie.88)
Grace Weston is fearful and foolish (though we should add, not really villainous), but we should note that she isn't alone. US Robots has trouble because lots of people are foolishly worried about robots. How can you deal with popular prejudice like this?
Quote #3
And his last words as he receded into the distance were, "There grew a little flower 'neath a great oak tree," followed by a curious metallic clicking that might have been a robotic equivalent of a hiccup. (Runaround.119)
Speedy is the robotic equivalent of drunk. And this might be the most foolish a robot ever gets in these stories. Most of the foolishness in this book is humans doing the wrong thing. When a robot is foolish, it's because its brain doesn't work right (although maybe that's what it means when a human is being foolish as well).