Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinleinwas an American science-fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was an influential and controversial author of the genre in his time...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth7 July 1907
CountryUnited States of America
gratitude trying degradation
Please don't invent a debt that does not exist, or next you will be trying to feel gratitude - and that is the treacherous first step toward complete moral degradation.
girl world wonderful
What a wonderful world it is that has girls in it!
book writing thinking
I'm afraid of coaching, of writer's classes, of writer's magazines, of books on how to write. They give me centipede trouble - you know the yarn about the centipede who was asked how he managed all his feet? He tried to answer, stopped to think about it, and was never able to walk another step.
wind moral-behavior leopards
Evolution is a process that never stops. Baboons who fail to exhibit moral behavior do not survive; they wind up as meat for leopards.
thinking men sentimental
Men are more sentimental than women. It blurs their thinking.
country love-you government
Love your country, but never trust its government.
self years people
Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.
truth freedom knowledge
Democracy is four wolves and a sheep voting on dinner.
inspirational badass work
Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it.
children challenges risk
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.
men sides sometimes
Take sides! Always take sides! You will sometimes be wrong - but the man who refuses to take sides must always be wrong.
retirement jobs hard-work
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. Contrariwise, if you are looking for shorter hours and longer vacations and early retirement, you are in the wrong job. Perhaps you need to take up bank robbing. Or geeking in a sideshow. Or even politics.
tribes injustice sin
Sin is cruelty and injustice, all else is peccadillo. Oh, a sense of sin comes from violating the customs of your tribe. But breaking custom is not sin even when it feels so; sin is wronging another person.
roots self deception
If tempted by something that feels 'altruistic,' examine your motives and root out that self-deception. Then, if you still want to do it, wallow in it!