Robert A. Heinlein Quotes

When one teaches, two learn.

An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl she used to be. A great artist can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is, and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be.

Happiness consists in getting enough sleep. Just that, nothing more.

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.

Selfishness is the bedrock on which all moral behavior starts and it can be immoral only when it conflicts with a higher moral imperative. An animal so poor in spirit that he won't even fight on his own behalf is already an evolutionary dead end; the best he can do for his breed is to crawl off and die, and not pass on his defective genes.

Nobody ever wins a lawsuit but the lawyers.

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

When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.

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.

One man’s magic is another man’s engineering. Supernatural is a null word.

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 is kill him.

Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often confuses one for the other, or assumes the greater the love, the greater the jealousy. In fact they are almost incompatible; both at once produce unbearable turmoil.

One can judge from experiment, or one can blindly accept authority. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all important and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits. To the academic mind, authority is everything and facts are junked when they do not fit theory laid down by authority.

How can I possibly put a new idea into your heads, if I do not first remove your delusions?

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice.

Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors–and miss.

To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods.

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.

If you happen to be one of the fretful who can do creative work, never force an idea; you’ll abort it if you do. Be patient and you’ll give birth to it when the time is ripe. Learn to wait.

The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with it’s credibility. And vice versa.