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)

  82 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

  167 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

  172 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.

  156 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”

  47 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”

  33 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

  77 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

  102 Copy quote

• Ignorance is curable, stupid is forever.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Stupid, Ignorance, Forever

  31 Copy quote

• The most ridiculous concept ever perpetrated by Homo Sapiens is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of his creations, that he can be persuaded by their prayers, and becomes petulant if he does not receive this flattery. Yet this ridiculous notion, without one real shred of evidence to bolster it, has gone on to found one of the oldest, largest and least productive industries in history.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Religious, Prayer, Real

  38 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

  19 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

  51 Copy quote

• Learn to say No—and to be rude about it when necessary. Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Rude, Happiness And Love, Duty

  Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Time Enough for Love”, p.331, Penguin

  11 Copy quote

• Democracy can survive anything except Democrats

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Democracy, Politics, Democrat

  39 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

  65 Copy quote

• There are two ways of forming an opinion. One is the scientific method; the other, the scholastic. 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.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Two, Mind, Important

  27 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

  39 Copy quote

• At least once every human should have to run for his life, to teach him that milk does not come from supermarkets, that safety does not come from policemen, that 'news' is not something that happens to other people. He might learn how his ancestors lived and that he himself is no different--in the crunch his life depends on his agility, alertness, and personal resourcefulness.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Running, Should Have, People

  "The Number of the Beast". Book by Robert A. Heinlein, p. 134, 1980.

  31 Copy quote

• Never appeal to a man's 'better nature.' He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Nature, Men, Self

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

  12 Copy quote

• I never learned from a man who agreed with me.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Wise, Wisdom, Learning

  132 Copy quote

• There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Men, Thinking, Political

  "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress". Novel by Robert A. Heinlein, 1966.

  49 Copy quote

• What are the facts? Again and again and again – what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what “the stars foretell,” avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable “verdict of history” – what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Stars, Truth, Thinking

  Time Enough for Love (p. 264)

  24 Copy quote

• The United States has become a place where entertainers and professional athletes are mistaken for people of importance.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Athlete, People, United States

  38 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.

  65 Copy quote

• The greatest fallacy of democracy is that everyone's opinion is worth the same.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Freedom, Democracy, Opinion

  35 Copy quote

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