Quotations of selected author

Robert A. Heinlein

1908-1988. American science-fiction writer.


1. "You live and learn. Or you don't live long."

categories: Life and Death -:- Education


2. "You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once."

categories: Freedom and Servitude -:- Peace and War


3. "Women seem to have almost unlimited capacity for forgiveness. (Since it is usually a man who needs forgiveness, this must be a racial survival trait.)"

source: "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls"

categories: Forgiveness -:- Woman and Man


4. "Wisdom is not additive; its maximum is that of the wisest man in a given group."

categories: Wisdom and Stupidity


5. "There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know. So why fret about it?"

categories: Life and Death


6. "The most noble fate a man can endure is to place his own mortal body between his loved home and the war's desolation."

source: "Starship Troopers"

categories: Patriotism -:- Destiny and Fate


7. "Success often comes from not knowing you limitations."

categories: Success and Fame


8. "Stupidity is generally it's own punishment."

categories: Wisdom and Stupidity



9. "Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things."

categories: Work and Laziness


10. "Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's supposed to do."

categories: Science and Technology


11. "Morals - all correct moral laws - derive from the instinct to survive. Moral behavior is survival behavior above the individual level."

categories: Manners and Ethics


12. "Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal."

categories: Human -:- Nature and Animals


13. "Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."

source: "Stranger in a Strange Land"

categories: Happiness -:- Love


14. "In a mature society, "civil servant" is semantically equal to "civil master.""

categories: Authority, Government


15. "Every law that was ever written opened up a new way to graft."

categories: Law and Crime


16. "Don't try to have the last word. You might get it."

categories: Various


17. "Do not handicap your children by making their lives easy."

source: "Time Enough for Love"

categories: Family and Loneliness -:- Education


18. "Courage is the complement of fear. A man who is fearless cannot be courageous. (He is also a fool.)"

source: "Time Enough for Love"

categories: Bravery and Fear


19. "Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get. "

source: "Time Enough for Love"

categories: Nature and Animals



20. "An elephant. A mouse built to government specifications."

source: "Time Enough for Love"

categories: Authority, Government -:- Nature and Animals


21. "Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it."

source: "Time Enough for Love"

categories: Various


22. "All societies are based on rules to protect pregnant women and young children. All else is surplusage, excrescence, adornment, luxury, or folly, which can - and must - be dumped in emergency to preserve this prime function."

categories: Manners and Ethics


23. "Age is not an accomplishment, and youth is not a sin."

categories: Youth and Age


24. "A generation which ignores history has no past - and no future."

categories: History and Nations -:- Youth and Age


25. "A committee is the only known form of life with a hundred bellies and no brain."

categories: Various