Home > Author > Robert A. Heinlein
81 " 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 , Friday
82 " A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill. "
― Robert A. Heinlein , Time Enough for Love
83 " Here, by the grace of God and an inside straight, we have a personality untouched by the psychotic taboos of our tribe - and you want to turn him into a carbon copy of every fourth-rate conformist in this frightened land! Why don't you go whole hog? Get him a brief case and make him carry it wherever he goes - make him feel shame if he doesn't have it. "
― Robert A. Heinlein , Stranger in a Strange Land
84 " Customs, morals--is there a difference? "
85 " Customs tell a man who he is, where he belongs, what he must do. Better illogical customs than none; men cannot live together without them. From an anthropologist's view, 'justice' is a search for workable customs. "
― Robert A. Heinlein , Citizen of the Galaxy
86 " The drive for power is even less logical than the sex urge . . . and stronger. "
87 " Oh, you have to charge 'em, Jubal. The marks won't pay attention if it's free. "
88 " Belief gets in the way of learning. "
― Robert A. Heinlein
89 " One man’s “magic” is another man’s engineering. “Supernatural” is a null word. "
90 " I know where I came from—but where did all you zombies come from?I felt a headache coming on, but a headache powder is one thing I do not take. I did once—and you all went away.So I crawled into bed and whistled out the light.You aren’t really there at all. There isn’t anybody but me—Jane—here alone in the dark.I miss you dreadfully! "
91 " If you don't like yourself, you can't like other people. -- Lazarus Long. "
92 " I'm always suspicious of disinterested interest. "
93 " Do you know your Bible?''Uh, not very well.''It merits study, it contains very practical advice for most emergencies. "
94 " Then I glanced at the ring on my finger.The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail, Forever and Ever. I know where I came from—but where did all you zombies come from?I felt a headache coming on, but a headache powder is one thing I do not take. I did once—and you all went away.So I crawled into bed and whistled out the light.You aren’t really there at all. There isn’t anybody but me—Jane—here alone in the dark.I miss you dreadfully! "
95 " Never own more than you can carry in both hands at a dead run. "
96 " I've never been able to understand 'faith' myself, nor to see how a just God could expect his creatures to pick the one true religion out of an infinitude of false ones - by faith alone. It strikes me as a sloppy way to run an organization, whether universe or a smaller one. "
97 " He never once repeated himself and he never used either profanity or obscenity. (I learned later that he saved those for very special occasions, which this wasn’t.) But he described our shortcomings, physical, mental, moral, and genetic, in great and insulting detail.But somehow I was not insulted; I became greatly interested in studying his command of language. I wished that we had had him on our debate team. "
― Robert A. Heinlein , Starship Troopers
98 " Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms such 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 is a riot. "
99 " English is capable of defining sentiments that the human nervous system is quite incapable of experiencing. "
100 " …the greatest danger to man in space was man himself. "