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
loyalty responsibility men
Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man must develop himself; if he has them forced down him, he will vomit them out.
mind swallowing action
The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed.
opportunity men law
My old man claimed that the more complicated the law the more opportunity for scoundrels.
teaching math important
From somewhere, back in my youth, heard Prof say, 'Manuel, when faced with a problem you do not understand, do any part of it you do understand, then look at it again.' He had been teaching me something he himself did not understand very well—something in math—but had taught me something far more important, a basic principle.
trust skeptical
You can go wrong by being too skeptical as readily as by being too trusting.
variables helpful problem
In a dilemma, it is helpful to change any variable, then reexamine the problem.
cat men eight
I have spent too much of my life opening doors for cats—I once calculated that, since the dawn of civilization, nine hundred and seventy-eight man-centuries have been used up that way. I could show you figures.
science technology worry
Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's supposed to do.
gratitude real selfishness
Gratitude: An imaginary emotion that rewards an imaginary behavior, altruism. Both imaginaries are false faces for selfishness, which is a real and honest emotion.
trouble conspiracy
The trouble with conspiracies is that they rot internally.
children men long
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.
happiness fun optimism
Don't ever become a pessimist... a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events.
sex practice skills
Sex, whatever else it is, is an athletic skill. The more you practice, the more you can, the more you want to, the more you enjoy it, the less it tires you.
thinking police citizens
I think perhaps of all the things a police state can do to its citizens, distorting history is possibly the most pernicious.