The basic of all morality is duty, a concept with the same relation to group that self-interest has to individual. Robert A. Heinlein More Quotes by Robert A. Heinlein More Quotes From Robert A. Heinlein Magic is not science, it is a collection of ways to do things ways that work but often we don't know why. Robert A. Heinlein collectionsmagicway The ordinary bloke will not voluntarily pay for "art" that leaves him unmoved--if he does pay for it, the money has to be conned out of him, by taxes and such. Robert A. Heinlein doeordinaryart It seems to me that the secret of true happiness in life is to know what you are and then be content to be that, in style, head up and proud, and not yearn to be something else. Robert A. Heinlein stylesecrethappy Being sorry won't get you into heaven. Get happy, son. Get that old spring into your step and stay on your toes. Robert A. Heinlein sorryspringson The more you love, the more you can love--and the more intensely you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love. If a person had time enough, he could love all of that majority who are decent and just. Robert A. Heinlein majorityjusticelove A brute kills for pleasure. A fool kills from hate. Robert A. Heinlein foolpleasurehate To get anywhere, or even to live a long time, a man has to guess, and guess right, over and over again, without enough data for a logical answer. Robert A. Heinlein datatimemen Note the individual and subjective nature of each case. No two are alike and there is no reason to expect them to be. Each man or woman must find for himself or herself that occupation in which hard work and long hours make him or her happy. Contrariwise, if you are looking for shorter hours and longer vacations and early retirement, you are in the wrong job. Perhaps you need to take up bank robbing. Or geeking in a sideshow. Or even politics. Robert A. Heinlein hard-workretirementjobs I'm afraid of coaching, of writer's classes, of writer's magazines, of books on how to write. They give me centipede trouble - you know the yarn about the centipede who was asked how he managed all his feet? He tried to answer, stopped to think about it, and was never able to walk another step. Robert A. Heinlein writingbookthinking Nothing of value is free. Even the breath of life is purchased at birth only through gasping effort and pain. Robert A. Heinlein birtheffortpain Aside from a cold appreciation of my own genius I felt that I was a modest man. Robert A. Heinlein geniusappreciationmen Physicians had gone to their graves calling Pasteur a liar, a fool, or worse—without examining evidence which their “common sense” told them was impossible. Robert A. Heinlein common-sensegoneliars But space travel can't ease the pressure on a planet grown too crowded not even with today's ships and probably not with any future ships-because stupid people won't leave the slopes of their home volcano even when it starts to smoke and rumble. What space travel does do is drain off the best brains: those smart enough to see a catastrophe before it happens, and with the guts to pay the price-abandon home, wealth, friends, relatives, everything-and go. That's a tiny fraction of one percent. But that's enough. Robert A. Heinlein smartstupidhome The whole principle (censorship) is wrong; it's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't eat steak. Robert A. Heinlein principlesbabymen The second best thing about space travel is that the distances involved make war very difficult, usually impractical, and almost always unnecessary. This is probably a loss for most people, since war is our race's most popular diversion, one which gives purpose and color to dull and stupid lives. But it is a great boon to the intelligent man who fights only when he must-never for sport. Robert A. Heinlein distancesportswar Spacemen - men who work in space, pilots and jetmen and astrogators and such - are men who like a few million miles of elbow room. Robert A. Heinlein elbowsspacemen Logic is a feeble reed, friend. "Logic" proved that airplanes can't fly and that H-bombs won't work and that stones don't fall out of the sky. Logic is a way of saying that anything which didn't happen yesterday won't happen tomorrow. Robert A. Heinlein airplaneskyfall Stinky says women should be obscene but not heard. Robert A. Heinlein obsceneshouldheard My old man taught me two things: 'Mind own business' and 'Always cut cards.' Robert A. Heinlein cuttingmenlife His was not a small mind bothered by logic and consistency. Robert A. Heinlein consistencylogicmind
