Famous Robert Heinlein Quotations

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"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"A poet who reads his verse in public may have other nasty habits."
by Robert Heinlein
"History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it."
by Robert Heinlein
"A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity."
by Robert Anson Heinlein
"A generation which ignores history has no past and no future."
by Robert Heinlein
"A fool cannot be protected from his folly. If you attempt to do so, you will not only arouse his animosity but also you will be attempting to deprive him of whatever benefit he is capable of deriving from experience. Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"A Libertarian Movement slogan"
by Robert A. Heinlein
"A long and wicked life followed by five minutes of perfect grace gets you into Heaven. An equally long life of decent living and good works followed by one outburst of taking the name of the Lord in vainthen have a heart attack at that moment and be damned for eternity. Is that the system"
by Robert A. Heinlein
"A motion to adjourn is always in order."
by Robert Heinlein
"A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun - and neither can stop the march of events."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"A poet that reads his verse in public may have other nasty habits."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Anyone who clings to the historically untrue - and thoroughly immoral - doctrine that violence never settles anything I would advise to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and the duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler would referee. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forgot this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and there freedoms."
by Robert Heinlein
"Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Each man is his own prisoner, in solitary confinement for life."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done. One could write a history of science in reverse by assembling the solemn pronouncements of highest authority about what could not be done and could never happen."
by Robert Anson Heinlein
"How you behave toward cats here below determines your status in Heaven."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Human beings hardly ever learn from the experience of others. They learn; when they do, which isn't often, on their own, the hard way."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"I don't see how an article of clothing can be indecent. A person, yes."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it."
by Robert Heinlein
"Love is a condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."
by Robert Anson Heinlein
"Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.... Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love the greater the jealousy."
by Robert Heinlein
"Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own... Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Luck is a tag given by the mediocre to account for the accomplishments of genius."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Of all the strange crimes that human beings have legislated of nothing, blasphemy is the most amazing - with obscenity and indecent exposure fighting it out for the second and third place."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Of course the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you - if you don't play, you can't win."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"One man's religion is another man's belly laugh."
by Robert Anson Heinlein
"People who go broke in a big way never miss any meals. It is the poor jerk who is shy a half slug who must tighten his belt."
by Robert Heinlein
"Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Premenstrual Syndrome: Just before their periods women behave the way men do all the time."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Remind me to write an article on the compulsive reading of news. The theme will be that most neuroses can be traced to the unhealthy habit of wallowing in the troubles of five billion strangers."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Self awareness is NOT just a bunch of amino acids bumping together."
by Robert Anson Heinlein
"Sex without love is merely healthy exercise"
by Robert Heinlein
"Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other 'sins' are invented nonsense"
by Robert Heinlein
"Specialization is for insects."
by Robert Heinlein
"That old saw about the early bird just proves that the worm should have stayed in bed."
by Robert Heinlein
"The greatest productive force is human selfishness."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"The power to tax, once conceded, has no limits; it contains until it destroys."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
by Robert Anson Heinlein
"The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive."
by Robert Heinlein
"The stars incline, but do not impel."
by Robert Anson Heinlein
"The United States has become a place where entertainers and professional athletes are mistaken for people of importance."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Theology is never any help it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't there. Theologians can persuade themselves of anything."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"To be matter-of-fact about the world is to blunder into fantasy - and dull fantasy at that, as the real world is strange and wonderful."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"To be matter of fact about the world is to blunder into fantasy -- and dull fantasy at that, as the real world is strange and wonderful."
by Robert Heinlein
"Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishfull thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Was there ever a time when the majority was right? Notebooks of Lazarus Long, Robert A"
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea"
by Robert Heinlein
"Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards."
by Robert Heinlein
"Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind, it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate--and quickly."
by Robert Anson Heinlein
"Theology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't there. Theologians can persuade themselves of anything."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Belief gets in the way of learning."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Get a shot off fast. This upsets him long enough to let you make your second shot perfect."
by Lazarus Long, Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein
"Sex should be friendly. Otherwise stick to mechanical toys; it's more sanitary."
by Lazarus Long, Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein
"The whole principle is wrong; it's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't eat steak."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"To get anywhere, or even live a long time, a man has to guess, and guess right, over and over again, without enough data for a logical answer."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"I've never understood how God could expect His creatures to pick the one true religion by faith - it strikes me as a sloppy way to run a universe."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Gratitude: An imaginary emotion that rewards an imaginary behavior, altruism. Both imaginaries are false faces for selfishness, which is a real and honest emotion."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Cheops' Law: Nothing ever gets built on schedule or within budget."
by Lazarus Long, Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein
"Small change can often be found under seat cushions."
by Lazarus Long, Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein
"Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks."
by Lazarus Long, Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein
"Money is a powerful aphrodisiac. But flowers work almost as well."
by Lazarus Long, Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein
"Learning isn't a means to an end; it is an end in itself."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"No matter where or what, there are makers, takers, and fakers."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"We pray for one last landing On the globe that gave us birth; Let us rest our eyes on fleecy skies And the cool green hills of Earth."
by Robert A. Heinlein
"A long and wicked life followed by five minutes of perfect grace gets you into Heaven. An equally long life of decent living and good works followed by one outburst of taking the name of the lord in vain-- then have a heart attack at that moment and be damned for eternity. Is that the system?"
by Robert Heinlein
"A long and wicked life followed by five minutes of perfect grace gets you into Heaven. An equally long life of decent living and good works followed by one outburst of taking the name of the Lord in vain"
by Robert A. Heinlein
"Av alla de så kallade naturliga mänskliga rättigheter som någonsin uppfunnits, är friheten den man minst ofta får billigt och aldrig gratis."
by Starship Troopers, Robert A Heinlein
"Most people can't think, most of the remainder won't think, the small fraction who do think mostly can't do it very well. The extremely tiny fraction who think regularly, accurately, creatively, and without self-delusion"
by Robert A. Heinlein
"By the data to date, there is only one animal in the Galaxy dangerous to man-man himself. So he must supply his own indispensable competition. He has no enemy to help him."
by Lazarus Long, Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein
"If it can't be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion."
by Lazarus Long, Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein
"Of all the creatures on this planet none is more dangerous than a human being."
by Robert A. Heinlein


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