Robert A. Heinlein Quotes about Children

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Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy.

Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy.

Robert A. Heinlein

Life, Education, Children

Happiness lies in being privileged to work hard for long hours in doing whatever you think is worth doing. One man may find happiness in supporting a wife and children. Another may find it in robbing banks. Still another may labor mightily for years in pursuing pure research with no discernible result. Note the individual and subjective nature of each case. No two are alike and there is no reason to expect them to be. Each man or woman must find for himself or herself that occupation in which hard work and long hours make him or her happy.

Robert A. Heinlein

Happiness, Children, Lying

Robert A. Heinlein (1988). “To Sail Beyond the Sunset”

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. As racial survival is the only universal morality, no other basic is possible. Attempts to formulate a "perfect society" on any foundation other than "Women and children first!" is not only witless, it is automatically genocidal. Nevertheless, starry-eyed idealists (all of them male) have tried endlessly - and no doubt will keep trying.

Robert A. Heinlein

Children, Luxury, Perfect

Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Time Enough for Love”, p.225, Penguin

Men rarely if ever dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.

Robert A. Heinlein

Dream, Atheist, Children

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

A child's life is like a piece of paper on which every person leaves a mark.

Robert A. Heinlein

Inspirational, Children, Chinese

There comes a time in the life of every human when he or she must decide to risk ‘his life, his fortune and his sacred honor’ on an outcome dubious. Those who fail the challenge are merely overgrown children, can never be anything else.

Robert A. Heinlein

Children, Choices, Challenges

Robert A. Heinlein (2014). “Stranger in a Strange Land”, p.65, Hachette UK

Delusions are often functional. A mother's opinions about her children's beauty, intelligence, goodness, et cetera ad nauseam, keep her from drowning them at birth.

Robert A. Heinlein

Mother, Children, Opinion

Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Time Enough for Love”, p.222, Penguin

Touch is the most fundamental sense. A baby experiences it, all over, before he is born and long before he learns to use sight, hearing, or taste, and no human ever ceases to need it. Keep your children short on pocket money but long on hugs

Robert A. Heinlein

Baby, Children, Learning

Most women are damn fools and children. But they've got more range than we've got. The brave ones are braver, the good ones are better - and the vile ones are viler, for that matter.

Robert A. Heinlein

Children, Brave, Matter

Robert A. Heinlein (2009). “The Puppet Masters”, p.107, Baen Publishing Enterprises

Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.

Robert A. Heinlein

Children, Religion, Moral

"Time Enough for Love".

Our behavior is different. How often have you seen a headline like this?--TWO DIE ATTEMPTING RESCUE OF DROWNING CHILD. If a man gets lost in the mountains, hundreds will search and often two or three searchers are killed. But the next time somebody gets lost just as many volunteers turn out. Poor arithmetic, but very human. It runs through all our folklore, all human religions, all our literature--a racial conviction that when one human needs rescue, others should not count the price.

Robert A. Heinlein

Running, Children, Men

Men are expendable; women and children are not. A tribe or a nation can lose a high percentage of its men and still pick up the pieces and go on ... as long as the women and children are saved.

Robert A. Heinlein

Children, Men, Long

"The Pragmatics of Patriotism". Address at the U.S. Naval Academy, April 5, 1973.

Some logics get nervous breakdowns. Overloaded phone system behaves like frightened child. Mike did not have upsets, acquired sense of humor instead. Low one. If he were a man, you wouldn't dare stoop over. His idea of thigh-slapper would be to dump you out of bed — or put itch powder in pressure suit.

Robert A. Heinlein

Children, Men, Phones

Robert A Heinlein (1966). “Moon Is Harsh Mistres”, Berkley