Never tease an old dog; he might have one bite left. Robert A. Heinlein More Quotes by Robert A. Heinlein More Quotes From Robert A. Heinlein Moving parts in rubbing contact require lubrication to avoid excessive wear. Honorifics and formal politeness provide lubrication where people rub together. Often the very young, the untravelled, the naive, the sophisticated deplore these formalities as 'empty,' 'meaningless,' or 'dishonest,' and scorn to use them. No matter how 'pure' their motives, they thereby throw sand into machinery that does not work too well at best. Robert A. Heinlein together people moving Democracy's worst fault is that its leaders are likely to reflect the faults and virtues of their constituents. Robert A. Heinlein faults democracy leader Anything free is worth what you pay for it. Robert A. Heinlein jolly sacrifice pay The meek shall inherit the earth - a 6 foot plot above them. Robert A. Heinlein plot earth feet Theology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't there. Theologians can persuade themselves of anything. Robert A. Heinlein cat atheist dark Every time we killed a thousand Bugs at a cost of one M.I. it was a net victory for the Bugs. We were learning, expensively, just how efficient a total communism can be when used by a people actually adapted to it by evolution; the Bug commisars didn't care any more about expending soldiers than we cared about expending ammo. Perhaps we could have figured this out about the Bugs by noting the grief the Chinese Hegemony gave the Russo-Anglo-American Alliance; however the trouble with 'lessons from history' is that we usually read them best after falling flat on our chins. Robert A. Heinlein grief people fall A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity. Robert A. Heinlein jealousy sad knowledge The killer looked up as the bullet hit him. He looked as if he were puzzled by some strange occurence, being too freshly dead to be aware of it. Robert A. Heinlein killers bullets strange Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How's that again? I missed something. Robert A. Heinlein assumption democracy men If you do not believe that a man will commit murder for one can of tomatoes, then you have never been hungry. Robert A. Heinlein food men believe Widows are far better than brides. They don't tell, they won't yell, they don't swell, they rarely smell, and they're grateful as hell. Robert A. Heinlein widows smell grateful The nice thing about citing god as an authority is that you can prove anything you set out to prove. Robert A. Heinlein citing nice religion Man has no moral instinct. He is not born with moral sense. You were not born with it, I was not - and a puppy has none. We acquire moral sense, when we do, through training, experience, and hard sweat of the mind. Robert A. Heinlein sweat training men Free will is a golden thread running through the frozen matrix of fixed events. Robert A. Heinlein frozen events running Death is the lot of us all, and the only way that the human race has ever conquered death is by treating it with contempt. By living every golden minute as if one had all Eternity. Robert A. Heinlein golden race struggle The two highest achievements of the human mind are the twin concepts of "loyalty" and "duty". Whenever these twin concepts fall into disrepute, get out of there fast! You may possibly save yourself, but it is too late to save that society. It is doomed. Robert A. Heinlein loyalty two fall Do-gooding is like treating hemophilia - the real cure is to let hemophiliacs bleed to death...before they breed more hemophiliacs. Robert A. Heinlein cures real When the need arises - and it does - you must be able to shoot your own dog. Don't farm it out — that doesn't make it nicer, it makes it worse. Robert A. Heinlein dog doe needs Marriage is a psychological condition, not a civil contract and a license. Once a marriage is dead, it is dead, and it begins to stink faster than a dead fish. Robert A. Heinlein stink psychological faster From my point of view, a great deal of openly expressed piety is insufferable conceit. Robert A. Heinlein point-of-view conceit views
