A community where everyone is a ruthless murderer, with handy access to death-dealing devices, is a very polite community. Robert A. Heinlein More Quotes by Robert A. Heinlein More Quotes From Robert A. Heinlein I've never understood how God could expect His creatures to pick the one true religion by faith-it strikes me as a sloppy way to run a universe. Robert A. Heinlein runningwayreligion The power to tax, once conceded, has no limits; it continues until it destroys. Robert A. Heinlein mistresslibertarianlimits Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as "bad luck. Robert A. Heinlein creatingmenthinking You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. Robert A. Heinlein freedomwisdompeace Audacity, always audacity - soundest principal of strategy. Robert A. Heinlein principalstrategyaudacity Democracy can't work. Mathematicians, peasants, and animals, that's all there is - so democracy, a theory based on the assumption that mathematicians and peasants are equal, can never work. Wisdom is not additive; its maximum is that of the wisest man in a given group. Robert A. Heinlein wisest-mananimalmen A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill. Robert A. Heinlein trouble-makersocietylife English is the largest of human tongues, with several times the vocabulary of the second largest language -- this alone made it inevitable that English would eventually become, as it did, the lingua franca of this planet, for it is thereby the richest and most flexible -- despite its barbaric accretions . . . or, I should say, because of its barbaric accretions. English swallows up anything that comes its way, makes English out of it. Robert A. Heinlein tonguevocabularyway Humoring them costs nothing and adds to happiness in a world in which happiness is always in short supply. Robert A. Heinlein costaddworld He should have known better because, early in his learnings under his brother Mahmoud, he had discovered that long human words (the longer the better) were easy, unmistakable, and rarely changed their meanings, but short words were slippery, unpredictable changing their meanings without any pattern. Or so he seemed to grok. Short human words were never like a short Martian word - such as grok which forever meant exactly the same thing. Short human words were like trying to lift water with a knife. And this had been a very short word. Robert A. Heinlein knivesbrothershould-have When one teaches, two learn. Robert A. Heinlein teachingclevereducation Men rarely if ever dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child. Robert A. Heinlein atheistdreamchildren History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it. Robert A. Heinlein strongatheistpeople Never crowd youngsters about their private affairs - sex especially. Robert A. Heinlein crowdsaffairsex Always store beer in a dark place. Robert A. Heinlein storesdarkbeer The greatest productive force is human selfishness. Robert A. Heinlein selfishnesslibertarianliberty Animals can be driven crazy by placing too many in too small a pen. Homo sapiens is the only animal that voluntarily does this to himself. Robert A. Heinlein crazydoeanimal Rarest of all is the man who can and does reason at all times, quickly, accurately, inclusively, despite hope or fear or bodily distress, without egocentric bias or thalmic disturbance, with correct memory, with clear distinction between fact, assumption, and non-fact. Robert A. Heinlein motivationalmenmemories Take sides! Always take sides! You will sometimes be wrong - but the man who refuses to take sides must always be wrong. Robert A. Heinlein sidessometimesmen Democracy is a poor system of government at best; the only thing that can honestly be said in its favor is that it is eight times as good as any other method the human race has ever tried. Robert A. Heinlein eightgovernmentrace
