Top 500 Robert A. Heinlein Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

Featured in: Funny Quotes, Funny Work Quotes, Funny Senior Quotes, Funny Thursday Quotes

2. “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

Featured in: Love Quotes, Relationship Quotes, Feel Good Quotes, Love Life Quotes, Passion Quotes

3. “When one teaches, two learn.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

Featured in: Learning Quotes, Short Quotes, Teacher Quotes, Inspirational Quotes for Teachers

4. “In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

5. “I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

Featured in: Morality Quotes, Accountability Quotes, Personal Responsibility Quotes, Existentialism Quotes, Freedom Quotes

6. “Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

Featured in: Human Nature Quotes

7. “There is no such thing as a free lunch.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

Featured in: Work Ethic Quotes, Quotes About Money, Philosophy Quotes

8. “Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

Featured in: Silly Quotes, Sarcastic Quotes, Funny Quotes About Life, Funny Friday Quotes

9. “Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

Featured in: Impossible Quotes, Smart Quotes

10. “The United States has become a place where entertainers and professional athletes are mistaken for people of importance.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

11. “Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

Featured in: Efficiency Quotes, Hilarious Quotes, Funny Thursday Quotes

12. “Ignorance is curable, stupid is forever.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

13. “Love your country, but never trust its government.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

Featured in: Country Quotes

14. “You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

15. “A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot...”

— Robert A. Heinlein

16. “An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

17. “One man’s ‘magic’ is another man’s engineering. ‘Supernatural’ is a null word.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

18. “A child’s life is like a piece of paper on which every person leaves a mark.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

19. “Being right too soon is socially unacceptable.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

20. “Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

Featured in: Demotivational Quotes

21. “The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

22. “Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

Featured in: Crazy Quotes, Funny Inspirational Quotes, Short Funny Quotes, Funny Friday Quotes

23. “A generation which ignores history has no past – and no future.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

24. “I never learned from a man who agreed with me.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

25. “There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

26. “It is a bad sign when the people of a country stop identifying themselves with the country and start identifying with a group. A racial group. Or a religion. Or a language. Anything, as long as it isn’t the whole population.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

Featured in: Country Quotes

27. “When you vote, you are exercising political authority, you’re using force. And force, my friends, is violence. The supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

28. “Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

29. “You can’t conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

30. “Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

31. “Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done, and why. Then do it.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

32. “You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don’t ever count on having both at once.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

33. “Being privileged to work hard for long hours at something you think is worth doing is the best kind of play.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

34. “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

35. “Nothing of value is free. Even the breath of life is purchased at birth only through gasping effort and pain.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

36. “Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

37. “Stupidity cannot be cured. Stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death. There is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

38. “Democracy is four wolves and a sheep voting on dinner.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

39. “There are perhaps 5% of the population that simply can’t think. There are another 5% who can, and do. The remaining 90% can think, but don’t.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

40. “Don’t tell me violence doesn’t solve anything. Look at Carthage.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

41. “The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

42. “Fulfillment in life is loving a good woman and killing a bad man.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

43. “I am free, no matter what rules surround me. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for every thing I do.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

44. “One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

45. “Most people who sneer at technology would starve to death if the engineering infrastructure were removed.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

46. “There is no such thing as luck; there is only adequate or inadequate preparation to cope with a statistical universe.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

47. “Specialisation is for insects!”

— Robert A. Heinlein

48. “Happiness consists in getting enough sleep. Just that, nothing more.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

49. “Stupidity cannot be cured with money, or through education, or by legislation.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

50. “You don’t pay back, you pay forward.”

— Robert A. Heinlein