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61 " Democracy is a poor system of government at best; the only thing that can honestly be said in its favor is that it is eight times as good as any other method the human race has ever tried. "
― Robert A. Heinlein , Stranger in a Strange Land
62 " If God existed (a question concerning which Jubal maintained a meticulous intellectual neutrality) and if He desired to be worshiped (a proposition which Jubal found inherently improbable but conceivably possible in the dim light of his own ignorance), then (stipulating affirmatively both the above) it nevertheless seemed wildly unlikely to Jubal to the point of reductio ad absurdum that a God potent to shape galaxies would be titillated and swayed by the whoop-te-do nonsense the Fosterites offered Him as "worship. "
63 " Its very variety, subtlety, and utterly irrational, idiomatic complexity makes it possible to say things in English which simply cannot be said in any other language. "
64 " Thou art god, I am god. All that groks is god. "
65 " English is the largest of human tongues, with several times the vocabulary of the second largest language -- this alone made it inevitable that English would eventually become, as it did, the lingua franca of this planet, for it is thereby the richest and most flexible -- despite its barbaric accretions . . . or, I should say, because of its barbaric accretions. English swallows up anything that comes its way, makes English out of it. "
66 " Being sorry won't get you into heaven. Get happy, son. Get that old spring into your step and stay on your toes. "
67 " I grok in fullness. "
68 " Do-gooding is like treating hemophilia - the real cure is to let hemophiliacs bleed to death...before they breed more hemophiliacs. "
69 " Long human words (the longer the better) were easy, unmistakable, and rarely changed their meanings . . . but short words were slippery, unpredictable, changing their meanings without any pattern. "
70 " Random chance was not a sufficient explanation of the Universe---in fact, random chance was not sufficient to explain random chance; the pot could not hold itself. "
71 " He's as weird as snake's suspenders but sweet as a stolen kiss, too. "
72 " The Universe was a silly place at best...but the least likely explanation for it was the no-explanation of random chance, the conceit that abstract somethings 'just happened' to be atoms that 'just happened' to get together in ways which 'just happened' to look like consistent laws and some configurations 'just happened' to possess self-awareness and that two 'just happened' to be the Man from Mars and a bald-headed old coot with Jubal inside. "
73 " Christ was crucified for preaching without a police permit "
74 " Democracy is a poor system of government at best; the only thing that can honestly be said in its favor is that it is about eight times as good as any other method the human race has ever tried. Democracy's worst fault is that its leaders are likely to reflect the faults and virtues of their constituents - a depressingly low level, but what else can you expect? "
75 " Have you ever known me to be rude to a lady?" "I have seen you be intentionally rude to a woman. I have never seen you be rude to a lady. "
76 " الطيبة وحدها لا تكفي. لا بد من حكمة باردة قاسية للطيبة كي تحقق الخير. الطيبة بلا حكمة تؤدي حتما إلى الشر. "
77 " A desire not to butt into other people's business is at least eighty percent of all human 'wisdom'...and the other twenty percent isn't very important. "
78 " Gratitude is a euphemism for resentment. "
79 " Talking with a Martian is something like talking with an echo. You don't get any argument but you don't get results either. "
80 " Audacity, always audacity - soundest principal of strategy. "