Robert A. Heinlein Quotes and Sayings - Page 1
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“I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.”
-- Robert A. HeinleinSource : "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert A. Heinlein, (Ch. 6), 1966.
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“Don't ever become a pessimist... a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events.”
-- Robert A. HeinleinSource : Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Time Enough for Love”, p.109, Penguin
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“There are no dangerous weapons; there are only dangerous men.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”
-- Robert A. HeinleinSource : Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Stranger in a Strange Land”, p.340, Penguin
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“May you live as long as you wish and love as long as you live.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“The two highest achievements of the human mind are the twin concepts of "loyalty" and "duty". Whenever these twin concepts fall into disrepute, get out of there fast! You may possibly save yourself, but it is too late to save that society. It is doomed.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
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“Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“Butterflies are self propelled flowers.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“A woman is not property, and husbands who think otherwise are living in a dreamworld.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
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“In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything - you can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“Being a mother is an attitude, not a biological relation.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“Courage is the complement of fear. A man who is fearless cannot be courageous. [He is also a fool.]”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
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“I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“The most ridiculous concept ever perpetrated by Homo Sapiens is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of his creations, that he can be persuaded by their prayers, and becomes petulant if he does not receive this flattery. Yet this ridiculous notion, without one real shred of evidence to bolster it, has gone on to found one of the oldest, largest and least productive industries in history.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“Love your country, but never trust its government.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“Secrecy is the keystone to all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy and censorship. When any government or church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, "This you may not read, this you must not know," the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man who has been hoodwinked in this fashion; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, whose mind is free. No, not the rack nor the atomic bomb, not anything. You can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
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“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as "bad luck.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“Happiness consists in getting enough sleep. Just that, nothing more.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“There is no conclusive evidence of life after death, but there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know, so why fret about it?”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
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“The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“The most noble fate a man can endure is to place his own mortal body between his loved home and the war's desolation.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
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“Learning isn't a means to an end; it is an end in itself.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein -
“Its very variety, subtlety, and utterly irrational, idiomatic complexity makes it possible to say things in English which simply cannot be said in any other language.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein
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