Quotes from Robert A. Heinlein

The result is of unique historical importance despite the Archivist's decision to leave in blatant falsehoods, self-serving allegations, and many amoral anecdotes not suitable for young persons.

One might define adulthood as the age at which a person learns that he must die … and accepts his sentence undismayed.

Mmm, a futile discussion. So my problem child is adequate?" "Well … he's not a member of the Ku Klux Klan—" "I never thought he was! Zebbie isn't that sort." "—but he's a wizard under a sheet!

Hit anything hard enough, strike sparks. Elementary physics, known to everybody but intelligentsia

Baggage included a tossed salad of books as well as hundreds of the more usual film spools. The entire family, save the twins, tended to be old-fashioned about books; they liked books with covers, volumes one could hold in the lap. Film spools were not quite the same.

One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.

Anyone who can worship a trinity and insist that his religion is a monotheism can believe anything.

Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense.

The Ten Commandments are for lame brains. The first five are solely for the benefit of the priests and the powers that be; the second five are half truths, neither complete nor adequate.

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

The nice thing about citing god as an authority is that you can prove anything you set out to prove.

The less respect an older person deserves the more certain he is to demand it from anyone younger.

Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

Roman matrons used to say to their sons: 'Come back with your shield or on it.' Later on, this custom declined. So did Rome... (but not before it created an Empire that changed the world -EM).

A thing can be fine on paper but utterly crummy in the field.

Belief gets in the way of learning.

You live and learn. Or you don't live long.

Learning isn't a means to an end; it is an end in itself.

Humans hardly ever learn from the experience of others. They learn - when they do, which isn't often - on their own, the hard way.

Since when was an emotional argument won by logic

Sex without love is merely healthy exercise.

The greatest productive force is human selfishness.

Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's supposed to do

The human race divides itself politically into those who want to be controlled, and those who have no such desire