Quotes from Robert A. Heinlein

Thou are God," Mike repeated serenely. "That which groks. Anne is God. I am God. The happy grasses are God. Jill groks in beauty always. Jill is God. All shaping and making and creating together—" He croaked something in Martian and smiled.

sin' is rarely concerned with a real wrongness but sin is what the sinner groks as sin—and when you grok with him, it can hurt. I know.

But how, from the viewpoint of a Martian, did man differ from other animals? Would a race that could levitate and god knows what else be impressed by engineering? If so would the Aswan Dam or a thousand miles of coral reef win first prize? Man's self awareness, sheer conceit. There was no way to prove that sperm whales and sequoias were not philosophers and poets exceeding any human merit?

Mike puts us into trance, pours language - definitions, idioms, concepts - into us for moments that feel like hours... then we dictate at once what he has poured into us, while it's still fresh. But it can't be just anybody. It requires a sharp accent and the ability to join trance rapport and then spill out the results. Sam, for example, has everything but the accent - he manages, God knows how, to speak Martian with a Bronx accent. Can't use him, it would cause endless errata.

Who can possibly be as deeply inside a story as the person who writes it?

One must accept death, learn not to fear it, then never worry about it. 'Make Today Count!' as a friend whose days are numbered told me. Live in that spirit and when death comes, it will come as a welcome friend.

There is an old picture of a people traveling by sleigh through deep woods—pursued by wolves. Every now and then they grab one of their number and toss him to the wolves. That's conscription even if you call it "selective service" and pretty it up with USOs and "veterans' benefits

The tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots . . . —Thomas Jefferson, 1787

Harshaw had the arrogant humility of a man who has learned so much that he is aware of his own ignorance; he saw no point in "measurements" when he did not know what he was measuring.

I don't pay attention to politics." "You should. It's barely less important than your own heart beat.

It says in Little Women that a bride should be half her husband's age plus seven years. Zebadiah and I hit close to that.

they care about skin color—by making point of how they don't care.

Electrons don't care. Once data of any sort go into the net, time is frozen. All that is necessary is to remember that all the endless riches of the past are available any time you punch for them.

every choice must be paid for.

suspect it will be the harshest tyranny imaginable; majority rule gives the ruthless strong man plenty of elbow room to oppress his fellows.

I spent time then soothing Mike down and trying to make him happy, having figured out what troubled him—thing that makes puppies cry and causes people to suicide: loneliness.

government-supported artist is an incompetent whore!

Pop says cops and courts no longer protect citizens, so citizens must protect themselves.

The shrewdest of the great generals in China's history once said that perfection in war lay in so sapping the opponent's will that he surrenders without fighting.

Don't talk dirty. Did you say 'thoat'?" "Yes. This is Barsoom." "I thoat that was what you said." "If that's a pun, you can eat it for supper. With peanut butter.

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.

While any Fair Witness would do, the prestige of Cavendish was such that a lawyer was hardly necessary—the old gentleman had testified many times before the High Court and it was said that the wills locked up in his head represented billions. Cavendish had received his training in total recall from the great Dr. Samuel Renshaw and his hypnotic instruction as a fellow of the Rhine Foundation.

Magic," I stated, "is a symbol for any process not understood.

Jubal had long forsworn pets, because he outlived them, or (worse yet) it was now possible that a pet would outlive him, be orphaned.