Favorite Heinlein quote?
Here are two of mine:
The profession of shaman has many advantages. It offers high status with a safe livelihood free of work in the dreary, sweaty sense. In most societies it offers legal privileges and immunities not granted to other men. But it is hard to see how a man who has been given a mandate from on High to spread tidings of joy to all mankind can be seriously interested in taking up a collection to pay his salary; it causes one to suspect that the shaman is on the moral level of any other con man.
But it's lovely work if you can stomach it.
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.
The profession of shaman has many advantages. It offers high status with a safe livelihood free of work in the dreary, sweaty sense. In most societies it offers legal privileges and immunities not granted to other men. But it is hard to see how a man who has been given a mandate from on High to spread tidings of joy to all mankind can be seriously interested in taking up a collection to pay his salary; it causes one to suspect that the shaman is on the moral level of any other con man.
But it's lovely work if you can stomach it.
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.
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It has been a very long time, and I don't grok his stuff word-for-word anymore.
What did he call the people who were kind of like notaries, that would say things like "This side of the house is white" ?? I almost have it !!
Damn, do you remember what I'm talking about ??
Doug0 -
Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss.
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. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surely curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.
Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it.
Robert Heinlein
- More quotations on: [Experts]
In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it.
Robert Heinlein
- More quotations on: [Goals]
Money is a powerful aphrodisiac. But flowers work almost as well.
Robert Heinlein
Of course the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you--if you don't play, you can't win.
Robert Heinlein
One might define adulthood as the age at which a person learns he must die and accepts his sentence undismayed.
Robert Heinlein
Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.
Robert Heinlein
- More quotations on: [Writing]
The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive.
Robert Heinlein, "Job", 1984
- More quotations on: [Life]
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.
Robert Heinlein, Excerpt from the notebooks of Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love"
A motion to adjourn is always in order.
Robert Heinlein, Lazarus Long: Time Enough For Love
Thou art God, and I am God and all that groks is God.
Robert Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land
Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.
Robert Heinlein, Time Enough For Love
There is no such thing as luck. There is only adequate or inadequate preparation to cope with a statistical universe.
Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love
A poet who reads his verse in public may have other nasty habits.
Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love, 1978
- More quotations on: [Poetry]0 -
Wow - it's hard to believe that as many libertarians as we have around here there were only 2 responses for 85 reads!!!! 0 -
If you want a real libertarian quote from 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 from 'Beyond This Horizon' and a much more appropriate statement than "An armed society is a polite society." which is often parroted by people who have not even read the book.
Do you really want to be in a society in which you can be challenged to a set duel where your gun won't burn until the referee gives the signal?
The profession that Doug refers to is Fair Witness in 'Stranger in a Strange Land'. Trained for perfect recall, no assumptions, and high ethics. That WOULD add a lot to the court system, wouldn't it?
I always liked one out of 'Glory Road', "First he was a hero, then he was dead."0 -
Damn - I thought of it just before I read Hawk's post. Now nobody will believe me.
It is, indeed, "Fair Witness".
I've always thought that that would be a tough job.
I guess my favorite quote is one I've referred to on this Forum a couple of times: "I am a ten second bomb....nine....eight....".
Doug
* edited to correct spelling.0 -
From "The Notebook of Lazarus Long: "Never frighten a little man. He'll kill you." and "Have you noticed how much they look like orchids? Lovely!" [:p] and BTW- for Heinlein fans- they turned up the notes and drafts for an unpublished novel. Gave it to Spider Robinson, who wrote the novel. Worth reading. For those interested, hunt it up. 0 -
'Variable Star'
I've got it. Kind of a mish-mash of Heinlein backgrounds out of several different milieu. I guess because so many were overtaken by events. Any road, it takes place well after the Second American Revolution - overthrow of The Prophet but with a lot of other stuff stirred in. Including a novel spacedrive not seen in real Heinlein, but it is a major plot driver.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Doug Wilson
It has been a very long time, and I don't grok his stuff word-for-word anymore.
What did he call the people who were kind of like notaries, that would say things like "This side of the house is white" ?? I almost have it !!
Damn, do you remember what I'm talking about ??
Doug
A Fair Witness. They wore the white robes.0 -
Who is Heinlein? Seriously. I read a lot and I can't believe I haven't heard of him. Sounds like my kind of guy. 0 -
A "pacifist male" is a contradiction in terms. Most self-described "pacifists" are not pacific; they simply assume false colors. When the wind changes, they hoist the Jolly Roger.
amen0 -
"come on you apes! you want to live forever?"
Many more, can't remember all of them. Mostly from Starship Troopers.0 -
The Everybody should know thread put me in mind of the second Heinlein quote in the OP and so I brought this thread back to the top. 0 -
When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how holy the motives.
Robert A. Heinlein0 -
What are the marks of a sick culture?
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.
A very bad sign. Particularism. It was once considered a Spanish vice but any country can fall sick with it. Dominance of males over females seems to be one of the symptoms.
Before a revolution can take place, the population must loose faith in both the police and the courts.
High taxation is important and so is inflation of the currency and the ratio of the productive to those on the public payroll. But that's old hat; everybody knows that a country is on the skids when its income and outgo get out of balance and stay that way - even though there are always endless attempts to wish it way by legislation. But I started looking for little signs and what some call silly-season symptoms.
I want to mention one of the obvious symptoms: Violence. Muggings. Sniping. Arson. Bombing. Terrorism of any sort. Riots of course - but I suspect that little incidents of violence, pecking way at people day after day, damage a culture even more than riots that flare up and then die down. Oh, conscription and slavery and arbitrary compulsion of all sorts and imprisonment without bail and without speedy trial - but those things are obvious; all the histories list them.
I think you have missed the most alarming symptom of all. This one I shall tell you. But go back and search for it. Examine it. Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms as you have named... But 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 a riot.
This symptom is especially serious in that an individual displaying it never thinks of it as a sign of ill health but as proof of his/her strength. Look for it. Study it. It is too late to save this culture - this worldwide culture, not just the freak show here in California. Therefore we must now prepare the monasteries for the coming Dark Age. Electronic records are too fragile; we must again have books, of stable inks and resistant paper.
--- Friday and Dr. Baldwin in Friday0 -
jimdeere, have you read any Heinlein? 0 -
quote:Originally posted by cccooper
What are the marks of a sick culture?
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.
A very bad sign. Particularism. It was once considered a Spanish vice but any country can fall sick with it. Dominance of males over females seems to be one of the symptoms.
Before a revolution can take place, the population must loose faith in both the police and the courts.
High taxation is important and so is inflation of the currency and the ratio of the productive to those on the public payroll. But that's old hat; everybody knows that a country is on the skids when its income and outgo get out of balance and stay that way - even though there are always endless attempts to wish it way by legislation. But I started looking for little signs and what some call silly-season symptoms.
I want to mention one of the obvious symptoms: Violence. Muggings. Sniping. Arson. Bombing. Terrorism of any sort. Riots of course - but I suspect that little incidents of violence, pecking way at people day after day, damage a culture even more than riots that flare up and then die down. Oh, conscription and slavery and arbitrary compulsion of all sorts and imprisonment without bail and without speedy trial - but those things are obvious; all the histories list them.
I think you have missed the most alarming symptom of all. This one I shall tell you. But go back and search for it. Examine it. Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms as you have named... But 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 a riot.
This symptom is especially serious in that an individual displaying it never thinks of it as a sign of ill health but as proof of his/her strength. Look for it. Study it. It is too late to save this culture - this worldwide culture, not just the freak show here in California. Therefore we must now prepare the monasteries for the coming Dark Age. Electronic records are too fragile; we must again have books, of stable inks and resistant paper.
--- Friday and Dr. Baldwin in Friday
Still true today0 -
quote:Originally posted by jimdeere
Who is Heinlein? Seriously. I read a lot and I can't believe I haven't heard of him. Sounds like my kind of guy.
Have read quite a few Heinlein Science Fiction books. Funny, never knew he had so many quotes attributed to him. Had to look up to see if was the same person.
Books: https://tinyurl.com/heinlein-SF-books The movie Starship Troopers based on one of his books being the most well known and has had 4 sequels.
Quote: "Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."0 -
quote:Originally posted by Colt Super
Damn - I thought of it just before I read Hawk's post. Now nobody will believe me.
It is, indeed, "Fair Witness".
I've always thought that that would be a tough job.
I guess my favorite quote is one I've referred to on this Forum a couple of times: "I am a ten second bomb....nine....eight....".
Doug
* edited to correct spelling.
It's actually, I believe..."I'm a thirty second bomb! I'm a thirty second bomb! Twenty nine! Twenty eight!...."0 -
Oh, and my favorite quote is TANSTAAFL. No doubt.
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch."0 -
"Amazing, how much they resemble orchids." 0 -
?An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.?
#8213; Robert A. Heinlein, Beyond This Horizon
Read a lot of his works when I was younger. I need to go back and read some more.0 -
In no specific order:
Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.
One of my Favorites
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.
You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once.
This one escapes many who need the bobby on the corner to protect them.
An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life
RAH was a genius on the level of Mark Twain and Ben Franklin.0
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