Quotes from Robert A. Heinlein

his slot was given by his lifemate Perry Jarnell, who took six minutes. At that point his audio and video both cut out. After that, even the most pompous speakers quickly figured out that if they hadn't gotten it said within five minutes, Merril wasn't going to let them keep trying.

I see. Well—got everything you want?" "Yes," admitted Monroe-Alpha, "unless you should happen to have concealed, somewhere about your person, a hypersphere, a hypersurface, and some four-dimensional liquid, suitable for fine lubrication.

should not change geological features appreciably and placement of cities is largely controlled by geography.

danger is no novelty.

I wished that I were back on the Hunters' farm, bathed in the warm protectiveness of Mrs. Hunter. I wished that I were in Vicksburg, sharing mutual loneliness with Georges.

if you don't worry ahead of time, you'll regret it later.

Thirty-seven days out Fuzzy Britches had eight golden little kittens, exactly like their parent but only a couple of inches across when flat, marble-sized when contracted. Everyone including Captain Stone thought they were cute; everyone enjoying petting them, stroking them with a gentle forefinger and listening carefully for the tiny purr, so high as to be almost beyond human ear range. Everyone enjoyed feeding them and they seemed to be hungry all the time.

Only enough to protect the organization. Friday, you are well aware that the absence of Eyes and Ears today simply means that they are concealed. Be assured that I am shameless about protecting the organization.

Another was a victim in an 'unexplained crash' of a private APV and the Confederacy Attorney General has ordered an investigation. But I seem to recall that the Attorney General herself was assassinated

Zaslechl jsem, že bývaly bojové jednotky, s nimiž jejich kaplan nebojoval, ale nedokázal jsem si pÃ…â"¢edstavit, jak by to mohlo fungovat. Myslím tím, jak m?že kaplan žehnat n??emu, co nechce sám dÄ›lat?

We're trying to apply Clarke's Law." "I don't recall it. Maybe it was while I was out with mumps." "Arthur C. Clarke," Pop told her. "Great man—too bad he was liquidated in The Purge.

educational" killings

We citizens of Luna are jailbirds and descendants of jailbirds. But Luna herself is a stern schoolmistress; those who have lived through her harsh lessons have no cause to feel ashamed.

I recall the day you swiped one of my cigars, and how sick it made you. Your mother and I carefully avoided noticing that you couldn't eat dinner that night and I've never mentioned it to you until now—boys have to try such things and discover for themselves that men's vices are not for them.

no matter how many times you get your fingers burned, you have to trust people. Otherwise you are a hermit in a cave, sleeping with one eye open.

It [now] seems to me that every time we manage to establish one freedom, they take another one away. Maybe two. And that seems to me characteristic of a society as it gets older, and more crowded, and higher taxes, and more laws.

he had evidently been listening. "Jenkins—" "Uh—sir?" "Don't you know about sergeants?" "Well . . . I'm learning." "They don't have mothers. Just ask any trained private." He blew smoke toward us. "They reproduce by fission . . . like all bacteria.

God invented people to amuse Him because He didn't have television

When the field is clear, the reports all seen, When the lock sighs shut, when the lights wink green, When the check-off's done, when it's time to pray, When the captain nods, when she blasts away Hear the jets! Hear them snarl at your back When you're stretched on the rack; Feel your ribs clamp your chest, Feel your neck grind its rest. Feel the pain in your ship, Feel her strain in their grip. Feel her rise! Feel her drive! Straining steel, come alive, On her jets!

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.

I knew the deeper meaning of "better death than dishonor"—I knew now why Roman matrons said, "With your shield or on it.

I had to perform an act of faith. I had to prove to myself that I was a man. Not just a producing-consuming economic animal…but a man.

Who sneezed? WHO SNEEZED? I did. I did what? I sneezed. I SNEEZED, SIR! I sneezed, sir.

Escape speed is not a vector quantity; it is scalar.