Robert A. Heinlein Quotes

Quotes about:

• A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Life, Motivational, Atheist

  Time Enough for Love "Intermission" (1973)

  92 Copy quote

• You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Men, Political, Prejudice

  Robert A. Heinlein (2014). “Revolt in 2100”, p.53, Hachette UK

  182 Copy quote

• [T]here seems to have been an actual decline in rational thinking. The United States had become a place where entertainers and professional athletes were mistaken for people of importance. They were idolized and treated as leaders; their opinions were sought on everything and they took themselves just as seriously-after all, if an athlete is paid a million or more a year, he knows he is important ... so his opinions of foreign affairs and domestic policies must be important, too, even though he proves himself to be ignorant and subliterate every time he opens his mouth.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Athlete, Thinking, Media

  176 Copy quote

• 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

  Loss, Dying, Culture

  Robert A. Heinlein (1982). “Friday”

  55 Copy quote

• 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. Heinlein

  Inspirational, Freedom, Responsibility

  "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert A. Heinlein, (Ch. 6), 1966.

  167 Copy quote

• 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.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Race, People, Political

  109 Copy quote

• Ignorance is curable, stupid is forever.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Stupid, Ignorance, Forever

  38 Copy quote

• When one teaches, two learn.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Education, Clever, Teaching

  25 Copy quote

• It is a bad sign when the people of a country stop identifying themselves with the country and start identifying with a group. A racial group. Or a religion. Or a language. Anything, as long as it isn't the whole population.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Country, Long, People

  Robert A. Heinlein (1982). “Friday”

  39 Copy quote

• 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

  Fashion, Atheist, Freedom

  84 Copy quote

• A generation which ignores history has no past — and no future.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Future, Past, History

  Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Time Enough for Love”, p.223, Penguin

  133 Copy quote

• Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Stupidity, Underestimate, Attributes

  59 Copy quote

• Patriotism is not 'my country right or wrong'; patriotism means loving the ideals for which America stands and having the courage to speak up when these ideals are distorted for personal or political gain. The American government was instituted to be the servant of the people, not our master.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Country, Mean, Government

  48 Copy quote

• Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Love, Inspirational, Funny

  "Time Enough for Love". Book by Robert A. Heinlein, 1973.

  153 Copy quote

• Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Funny, Life, Motivational

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

  72 Copy quote

• Democracy can survive anything except Democrats

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Democracy, Politics, Democrat

  46 Copy quote

• 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

  Clear Goals, Excellence, Loyal

  77 Copy quote

• The lessons of history teach us - if the lessons of history teach us anything - that nobody learns the lessons that history teaches us.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Lessons, Teach, Ifs

  45 Copy quote

• 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.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Pigs, Benefits, Waste

  Time Enough for Love "Prelude II" (1973)

  69 Copy quote

• You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Wisdom, Peace, Freedom

  Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Time Enough for Love”, p.227, Penguin

  26 Copy quote

• Anyone who clings to the historically untrue-and thoroughly immoral-doctrine that, 'violence never settles anything' I would advise to conjure the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedom.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Thinking, Issues, Never Settle

  Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Starship Troopers”, p.27, Penguin

  91 Copy quote

• Belief gets in the way of learning.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Clever, Believe, Creativity

  Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Time Enough for Love”, p.33, Penguin

  19 Copy quote

• 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

  Men, Thinking, Creating

  Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Time Enough for Love”, p.228, Penguin

  22 Copy quote

• 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. Heinlein

  Happiness, Fun, Optimism

  Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Time Enough for Love”, p.109, Penguin

  103 Copy quote

• Remember though, your best weapon is between your ears and under your scalp -provided it's loaded.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Ears, Weapons, Remember

  67 Copy quote

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