How we cite our quotes: (Story title.paragraph)
Quote #1
"Afterward, they became more human and opposition began. The labor unions, of course, naturally opposed robot competition for human jobs, and various segments of religious opinion had their superstitious objections." (Introduction.35)
We have robots today that don't look like us and work in factories, and some labor unions have worried (understandably) about lost jobs; but notice in Asimov's world, people only really start to worry about robots when they "became more human." Why is it that people in these stories fear robots when they start to look more human?
Quote #2
Gloria's mother, however, was a source of uneasiness to Robbie and there was always the impulse to sneak away from her sight. (Robbie.49)
Most of fear in this story stems from people being afraid of robots, so it's interesting to us that one of the first stories involves the opposite: it's true that Grace Weston is afraid of Robbie, but Robbie is a little afraid of her as well. And this is one of our first robots, so already we see that Asimov's robots are emotional.
Quote #3
The little dots that marked the position formed a rough circle about the red cross of the selenium pool. And Powell's fingers went to his brown mustache, the unfailing signal of anxiety. (Runaround.22)
Powell is calm and Donovan is passionate most of the time, but even Powell gets a little upset when he's facing death. On one hand, this may be Asimov's way of telling us that fear isn't a terrible thing—it can sometimes be a useful emotion since it tells us that there's a problem. On the other hand, let's note that anxiety doesn't really help Powell here. Only science will help.