Quotes & Sayings About Heinlein

Drop dead-but first get permit — Robert A. Heinlein

You obviously don't know what an Old Man of the Sea great wealth is. It is not a fat purse and time to spend it. Its owner finds himself beset on every side, at every hour, wherever he goes, by persistent pleaders, like beggars in Bombay, each demanding that he invest or give away part of his wealth. He becomes suspicious of honest friendship
indeed honest friendship is rarely offered him; those who could have been his friends are too fastidious to be jostled by beggars, too proud to risk being mistaken for one. — Robert A. Heinlein

Never trust machinery more complicated than a knife and fork. — Robert A. Heinlein

As for the second notion, the idea that we could lose our freedom by succumbing to a wave of religious hysteria, I am sorry to say that I consider it possible. I hope that it is not probable. But there is a latent deep strain of religious fanaticism in this our culture; it is rooted in our history — Robert A. Heinlein

For millennia philosophers and saints have tried to reason out a logical scheme for the universe ... until Hilda came along and demonstrated that the universe is not logical but whimsical, its structure depending solely on the dreams and nightmares of non-logical dreamers. — Robert A. Heinlein

Yes, Boss?'
Dorcas, the last twenty or thirty years I've been a worthless, no-good parasite.'
She yawned again. 'Everybody knows that.'
Nevermind the flattery. There comes a time in every man's life when he has to stop being sensible
a time to stand up and be counted
strike a blow for liberty
smite the wicked.'
Ummm ... '
So quit yawning, the time has come.'
She glanced down. 'Maybe I had better get dressed. — Robert A. Heinlein

He ate what was set before him — Robert A. Heinlein

The coldest depth of Hell is reserved for people who abandon kittens. — Robert A. Heinlein

If God existed (a question concerning which Jubal maintained a meticulous intellectual neutrality) and if He desired to be worshiped (a proposition which Jubal found inherently improbable but conceivably possible in the dim light of his own ignorance), then (stipulating affirmatively both the above) it nevertheless seemed wildly unlikely to Jubal to the point of reductio ad absurdum that a God potent to shape galaxies would be titillated and swayed by the whoop-te-do nonsense the Fosterites offered Him as worship. — Robert A. Heinlein

For me, politeness is a sine qua non of civilization. — Robert A. Heinlein

If I had a Boy Scout I could make a fire by rubbing his hind legs together. — Robert A. Heinlein

We used these rifles in field exercises to simulate a lot of deadlier and nastier aimed weapons, too. — Robert A. Heinlein

From the strictest humanitarian viewpoint, any attempt to stop the processes by which over crowded cities purge themselves is not a kindness. — Robert A. Heinlein

Uh, all right. Boss, you're infuriating when you're logical!" "Yes, a most uncouth way to argue. — Robert A. Heinlein

A slave cannot be freed, save he do it himself. Nor can you enslave a free man; the very most you can do is kill him! — Robert A. Heinlein

If Satan should ever replace God he would find it necessary to assume the attributes of Divinity. — Robert A. Heinlein

Many older physicians had gone to their graves calling Pasteur a liar, a fool, or worse
and without examining evidence which their "common sense" told them was impossible. — Robert A. Heinlein

Mike did not seem to grasp the idea of Creation itself. Well, Jubal wasn't sure that he did, either
he had long ago made a pact with himself to postulate a Created Universe on even-numbered days, a tail-swallowing eternal-and-uncreated Universe on odd-numbered days
since each hypothesis, while equally paradoxical, neatly avoided the paradoxes of the other
with, of course, a day off each year for sheer solipsist debauchery. — Robert A. Heinlein

To assess the intelligence of a committee, divide the IQ of its stupidest member by the number of members. — Robert A. Heinlein

Of all the strange "crimes" that human beings have legislated out of nothing, "blasphemy" is the most amazing - with "obscenity" and "indecent exposure" fighting it out for second and third place. — Robert A. Heinlein

No one ever does anything but what he wants to do - 'enjoys' - within the possibilities open to him. If I change a tire, it's because I enjoy it more than being stranded. — Robert A. Heinlein

The police of a state should never be stronger or better armed than the citizenry. An armed citizenry, willing to fight, is the foundation of civil freedom. That's a personal evaluation, of course. — Robert A. Heinlein

A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot. — Robert A. Heinlein

It is what it is;...hit,shift, and rotate;... roll with the punch — Robert A. Heinlein

People who are busy and happy don't write diaries; they are too busy living. — Robert A. Heinlein

Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. — Robert A. Heinlein

Because the world has gone nutty and art always paints the spirit of its times — Robert A. Heinlein

We have our hands, we have our brains, we have the challenge all around us, and we have within (from whatever source) the will to strive. That is enough; there is no need to assert 'belief' in that which we do not, as yet, know. — 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

Faith strikes me as intellectual laziness. — Robert A. Heinlein

Anyone who can worship a trinity and insist that his religion is a monotheism can believe anything. — Robert A. Heinlein

Faith is intellectual laziness. — Robert A. Heinlein

I hate to tell you this, but you are just stupid and eager and sincere enough to make the kind of officer that men love to follow into some silly predicament. — Robert A. Heinlein

In the eighty or ninety years I have given to this subject, trying to trace out the meanderings of their twisty little minds, the only thing that I have learned for certain about women is that when a gal is gonna, she's gonna. All a man can do is cooperate with the inevitable. — Robert A. Heinlein

If men were the automatons that behaviorists claim they are, the behaviorist psychologists could not have invented the amazing nonsense called 'behaviorist psychology.' — Robert A. Heinlein

Sir, talking with a Martian is like talking with an echo. You don't get argument but you don't get results. — Robert A. Heinlein

That's a subject as safe as being in favor of Christmas. — Robert A. Heinlein

Never try to outstubborn a cat. — Robert A. Heinlein

Audacity, always audacity - soundest principal of strategy. — Robert A. Heinlein

I was no fool; I was aware that when another man is too anxious to force money on one, it is time to examine the cards, for there is almost certainly something illegal, or dangerous, or both, involved in the matter. — Robert A. Heinlein

All human behavior, all human motivations, all man's hopes and fears, were heavily colored and largely controlled by mankind's tragic and oddly beautiful pattern of reproduction. — Robert A. Heinlein

I never do anything I don't want to do. Nor does anyone, but in my case I am always aware of it. — Robert A. Heinlein

Mother had the social restraint of an ambassador. — Robert A. Heinlein

A hero must hero. — Robert A. Heinlein

Touch is the most fundamental sense. A baby experiences it, all over, before he is born and long before he learns to use sight, hearing, or taste, and no human ever ceases to need it. Keep your children short on pocket money but long on hugs — Robert A. Heinlein

Friends," he began, "fellow citizens of the Federation, I have tonight a unique honor and privilege. Since the triumphant return of our trail-blazing ship Champion - " He continued in a few thousand well-chosen words to congratulate the citizens of Earth on their successful contact with another planet, another civilized race. He managed to imply that the exploit of the Champion was the personal accomplishment of every citizen of the Federation, that any one of them could have led the expedition had he not been busy with other serious work - and that he, Secretary Douglas, had been chosen by them as their humble instrument to work their will. The flattering notions were never stated baldly, but implied; the underlying assumption being that the common man was the equal of anyone and better than most - and that good old Joe Douglas embodied the common man. Even his mussed cravat and cowlicked hair had a "just folks" quality. — Robert A. Heinlein

All men are created unequal. — Robert A. Heinlein

History does not record anywhere or at any time a religion that has any rational basis. — Robert A. Heinlein

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. — Robert A. Heinlein

If a grasshopper tries to fight a lawnmower, one may admire his courage but not his judgement. — Robert A. Heinlein

The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility. And vice versa. — Robert A. Heinlein

Richard, Bill has the socialist disease in its worst form; he thinks the world owes him a living. He told me sincerely - smugly! - that of course everyone was entitled to the best possible medical and hospital service - free of course, unlimited of course, and of course the government should pay for it. — Robert A. Heinlein

Democracy's worst fault is that its leaders are likely to reflect the faults and virtues of their constituents. — Robert A. Heinlein

It doesn't count, like time spent in Brooklyn — Heinlein Robert A.

Between two evils, I choose the one I've never tried before. — Heinlein Robert A.

Strictly speaking, the Patrol is not a military organization at all." "Sir?" "I know, I know - you are trained to use weapons, you are under orders, you wear a uniform. But your purpose is not to fight, but to prevent fighting, by every possible means. The Patrol is not a fighting organization; it is the repository of weapons too dangerous to entrust to military men. — Robert A. Heinlein

At least once every human should have to run for his life, to teach him that milk does not come from supermarkets, that safety does not come from policemen, that 'news' is not something that happens to other people. He might learn how his ancestors lived and that he himself is no different
in the crunch his life depends on his agility, alertness, and personal resourcefulness. — Robert A. Heinlein

A book need never die and should not be killed; books were the immortal part of man. — Robert A. Heinlein

When I don't understand, I have an unbearable itch to know why. — Robert A. Heinlein

That old saw about "To understand all is to forgive all" is a lot of tripe. Some things, the more you understand the more you loathe them. My — Robert A. Heinlein

He had more than his share of that streak of anarchy which was the birthright of every American. — Robert A. Heinlein

It seems to me that any law that is not enforced and can't be enforced weakens all other laws. — Robert A. Heinlein

When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere. — Robert A. Heinlein

Anyone who says that sex is overrated just hasn't done it properly. — Robert A. Heinlein

Premenstrual Syndrome: Just before their periods women behave the way men do all the time. — Robert A. Heinlein

If the universe has any purpose more important than topping a woman you love and making a baby with her hearty help, I've never heard of it. — Robert A. Heinlein

When one teaches, two learn. — Robert A. Heinlein

The second point I want to make is that you are right; the boy does indeed have to learn human customs. He must be taught to take off his shoes in a mosque and to wear his hat in a synagogue and to cover his nakedness when taboo requires it, or our tribal shamans will burn him for deviationism. But, child, by the myriad deceptive aspects of Ahriman, don't brainwash him in the process. Make sure he is cynical about each part of it. — Robert A. Heinlein

Gentlemen, let's go row! — Robert A. Heinlein

I counted to ten slowly, using binary notation. — Robert A. Heinlein

We came here for a quiet, small, informal meeting - strictly business. We find you've turned it into a circus. Well, if you're going to have a circus, you've got to have elephants and there's no two ways about it. — Robert A. Heinlein

To support his austerely upholstered nest and its rabble staff he put forth minimum effort for maximum return simply because it was easier to be rich than to be poor - Harshaw merely wished to live exactly as he liked, doing whatever he thought was best for him. — Robert A. Heinlein

The extremely tiny fraction who think regularly, accurately, creatively, and without self-delusion - in the long run, these are the only people who count. — Robert A. Heinlein

Death is the lot of us all, and the only way that the human race has ever conquered death is by treating it with contempt. By living every golden minute as if one had all Eternity. — Robert A. Heinlein

Butterflies are self propelled flowers. — Robert A. Heinlein

Customs, morals--is there a difference? — Robert A. Heinlein

I was there to see beautiful naked women. So was everybody else. It's a common failing. — Robert A. Heinlein

Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How's that again? I missed something. — Robert A. Heinlein

I sat on the bench by the willows and at my honey bun and read Triton. There are some awful things in the world, it's true, but there are also some great books. When I grow up I would like to write something that someone could read sitting on a bench on a day that isn't all that warm and they could sit reading it and totally forget where they were or what time it was so that they were more inside the book than inside their own head. I'd like to write like Delany or Heinlein or Le Guin. — Jo Walton

Light-months - and it was now possible to infer by parainterferometric methods that the star (ZD9817, or simply "our" star) had planets of some sort. — Robert A. Heinlein

Jubal longed for the days when a lawyer could cite the Bill of Rights and not have some over-riding Federation trickery defeat him. — Robert A. Heinlein

Unarmed hand-to-hand fighting does not change through the ages; only the name changes, and it has only one rule: do it first, do it fast, do it dirtiest. — Robert A. Heinlein

You evaded my question." "Then perhaps you had better assume that I intended to evade it. — Robert A. Heinlein

There is no such thing as a humane war. — Robert A. Heinlein

He never gave up his search for the Door into Summer. — Robert A. Heinlein

Stupidity is the only natural capital offense. — Robert A. Heinlein

Most moral philosophers consciously or unconsciously assume the essential correctness of our cultural sexual code - family, monogamy, continence, the postulate of privacy, ... restriction of intercourse to the marriage bed, etcetera. Having stipulated our cultural code as a whole, they fiddle with details - even such piffle as solemnly discussing whether or not the female breast is an "obscene" sight! But mostly they debate how the human animal can be induced or forced to obey this code, blandly ignoring the high probability that the heartaches and tragedies they see all around them originate in the code itself rather than the failure to abide by the code. — Robert A. Heinlein

Want to back out?" Jill let out a long breath. "No. I've always wanted a life of crime. Will you teach me gangster lingo? I want to be a credit to you. — Robert A. Heinlein

I hope he's just a scoundrel . . . because a saint can stir up ten times as much mischief as a scoundrel. — Robert A. Heinlein

The Mother Thing makes our world. — Robert A. Heinlein

All those religions
they contradict each other on every point but every one of them is filled with ways to help people to be brave enough to laugh even though they know they are dying. — Robert A. Heinlein

The ones that landed near the bathroom are Bad Tolkien imitations or transcripts of a D&D adventure; bad Herbert, Heinlein, and Asimov are below the television; and these on the bed are the ones whose authors I want to hunt down personally and slap. — Sharyn McCrumb

You. What is the moral difference, if
any, between the soldier and the civilian?"
"The difference," I answered carefully, "lies in the field of civic
virtue. A soldier accepts personal responsibility for the safety of the body
politic of which he is a member, defending it, if need be, with his life.
The civilian does not. — Heinlein Robert A.

- I'm so busy doing what I must do that I don't have time for what I ought to do ... and I never get a chance to do what I want to do!
- Son, that's universal. The way to keep that recipe from killing you is occasionally to do what you want to do anyhow. — Robert A. Heinlein

Dr. Jubal Harshaw, professional clown, amateur subversive, and parasite by choice, had long attempted to eliminate "hurry" and all related emotions from his pattern. Being aware that he had but a short time left to live and having neither Martian nor Kansan faith in his own immortality, it was his purpose to live each golden moment as if it were eternity - without fear, without hope, but with sybaritic gusto. — Robert A. Heinlein

Nobody has ever seen an electron. Nor a thought. You can't see a thought, you can't measure, weigh, nor taste it- but thoughts are the most real things in the Galaxy. — Robert A. Heinlein

The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science requires reasoning while those other subjects merely require scholarship. — Robert A. Heinlein

Make money, lose money - who cares? The idea is to enjoy it. — Robert A. Heinlein

I do know that the slickest way to lie is to tell the right amount of truth
then shut up. — Robert A. Heinlein

You do not truly own anything that you can't carry in both arms at a dead run — Robert A. Heinlein