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Robert A. Heinlein Quotes - Page 8

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Money is truthful. If a man speaks of his honor, make him pay cash.

Money is truthful. If a man speaks of his honor, make him pay cash.

Robert A. Heinlein
Money, Men, Honor
"Time Enough for Love".

Thinking doesn't pay. Just makes you discontented with what you see around you.

Robert A. Heinlein
Thinking, Pay
Robert A. Heinlein (2014). “Stranger in a Strange Land”, p.190, Hachette UK

If you've got the truth you can demonstrate it. Talking doesn't prove it.

Robert A. Heinlein
Talking, Prove It, Prove
ROBERT A. HEINLEIN (1961). “STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND”

Democracy can't work. Mathematicians, peasants, and animals, that's all there is - so democracy, a theory based on the assumption that mathematicians and peasants are equal, can never work. Wisdom is not additive; its maximum is that of the wisest man in a given group.

Robert A. Heinlein
Animal, Men, Wisest Man
Robert A. Heinlein (2007). “Glory Road”, p.277, Macmillan

The extremely tiny fraction who think regularly, accurately, creatively, and without self-delusion - in the long run, these are the only people who count.

Robert A. Heinlein
Running, Thinking, Self

On two subjects the overwhelming majority of people regarded their own opinions as Absolute Truth, and sincerely believed that anyone who disagreed with them was immoral, outrageous, sinful, sacrilegious, offensive, intolerable, stupid, illogical, treasonable, actionable, against the public interest, ridiculous, and obscene. The two subjects were (of course) sex and religion.

Robert A. Heinlein
Sex, Stupid, Two
Robert A. Heinlein (1988). “To Sail Beyond the Sunset”

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.

Robert A. Heinlein
Fighting, Animal, Spirit
"The Pragmatics of Patriotism". Address at the U.S. Naval Academy, April 5, 1973.

Why do some people act as if making money offended their delicate minds? I am out for a legitimate profit, and not ashamed of it; the fact that people will pay money for my goods and services shows that my work is useful.

Robert A. Heinlein
People, Mind, Pay
Robert A. Heinlein (2014). “Waldo & Magic, Inc.”, p.132, Baen Publishing Enterprises

The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed.

Robert A. Heinlein
Mind, Swallowing, Action
"Revolt in 2100" by Robert A. Heinlein, "Concerning Stories Never Written: Postscript", 1953.

No intelligent man has any respect for an unjust law.

Robert A. Heinlein
Intelligent, Men, Law
Robert A. Heinlein (1988). “To Sail Beyond the Sunset”

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

Robert A. Heinlein
Learning, Libertarian, Young
Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Time Enough for Love”, p.322, Penguin

Does history record any case in which the majority was right?

Robert A. Heinlein
Voting, Historical, Majority
Time Enough for Love "Second Intermission" (1973)

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.

Robert A. Heinlein
Atheist, Cat, Dark
Robert A. Heinlein (1985). “Job, a Comedy of Justice”, Del Rey

You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity.

Robert A. Heinlein
Stupid, Results, Malice
"Logic of Empire" (1941).

Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow if tomorrow might improve the odds.

Robert A. Heinlein
Odds, Understanding, Delay
"Time Enough for Love" by Robert A. Heinlein, Ace, (p. 334), August 1988.

The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science requires reasoning while those other subjects merely require scholarship.

Robert A. Heinlein
Science, Differences, Fuzzy
Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Time Enough for Love”, p.324, Penguin

Age does not bring wisdom... but it does give perspective... and the saddest sight of all is to see, far behind you, temptations you've resisted.

Robert A. Heinlein
Sight, Giving, Perspective
Robert A. Heinlein (1983). “Stranger in a Strange Land”, Berkley

The two highest achievements of the human mind are the twin concepts of "loyalty" and "duty". Whenever these twin concepts fall into disrepute, get out of there fast! You may possibly save yourself, but it is too late to save that society. It is doomed.

Robert A. Heinlein
Loyalty, Fall, Two
Time Enough for Love "Intermission" (1973)

In a society in which it is a moral offense to be different from your neighbor your only escape is to never let them find out.

Robert A. Heinlein
Tolerance, Different, Moral

There are things which cannot be taught in ten easy lessons, nor popularized for the masses; they take years of skull sweat.

Robert A. Heinlein
Years, Sweat, Skulls
Robert A. Heinlein (1982). “Glory Road”, Berkley

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.

Robert A. Heinlein
Vocabulary, Way, Tongue

When you vote, you are exercising political authority, you're using force. And force, my friends, is violence. The supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived.

Robert A. Heinlein
Exercise, Political, Violence
"Fictional character: Jean Rasczak". "Starship Troopers", www.imdb.com. 1997.

Behind every mystery lies another mystery.

Robert A. Heinlein
Lying, Mystery, Behinds
Robert A. Heinlein (1985). “Job, a Comedy of Justice”, Del Rey

Pessimist by policy, optimist by temperament- it is possible to be both. How? By never taking an unnecessary chance and by minimizing the risks you can't avoid. This permits you to play out the game untroubled by the certainty of the outcome.

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

Free will is a golden thread running through the frozen matrix of fixed events.

Robert A. Heinlein
Running, Events, Frozen
Robert A. Heinlein (2009). “The Rolling Stones”, p.154, Baen Publishing Enterprises

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