The fictional Salvor Hardin is a mayor of Terminus, location of the Foundation created by Hari Seldon in Isaac Asimov's fictional Foundation series. In the novel Salvor Hardin is protrayed as a shrewd and ruthless politician, a master manipulator who nevertheless acts in the interests of the lofty idealism of the Seldon Plan (a.k.a. The Foundation). In the book his quotes include "It's a poor atom blaster that doesn't point both ways" and "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right". His political tact and genius is seen throughout the first book in the series, Foundation, where he suceeds in saving Terminus from destruction by surrounding nations by sharing vital scientific knowledge with the kingdoms, but under the guise of a Religion which the Foundation controls. In the latter years of his reign as Mayor of Terminus, Hardin diffuses a threat by the Anacronean Empire by using this religion against them, placing an interdict on the home planet of the Kingdom, thus disabling all all technology on the planet and averting the destruction of the Foundation. Terminus is a fictional planet at the edge of the Galaxy in Isaac Asimovs Foundation Series, capital of the Foundation. ... Hari Seldon is the intellectual hero of Isaac Asimovs Foundation Series. ... Dr. Isaac Asimov enthroned with symbols of his lifes work (Rowena Morrill) Dr. Isaac Asimov (c. ... Hari Seldons holographic image, pictured on a paperback edition of Foundation, appears at various times in the First Foundations history, to guide it through the social and economic crises that befall it. ... The Seldon Plan is the central theme of Isaac Asimovs Foundation Series of stories and novels. ... Hari Seldons holographic image, pictured on a paperback edition of Foundation, appears at various times in the First Foundations history, to guide it through the social and economic crises that befall it. ... Wiktionary has a definition of: Foundation This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The word interdict usually refers to an ecclesiastical penalty in the Roman Catholic Church. ...

His best-known maxim, "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent", became one of Asimov's favourite sayings.