Top 500 Robert A. Heinlein Quotes (2024 Update)
Page 8 of 10

351. “Aside from a cold appreciation of my own genius I felt that I was a modest man.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

352. “One could write a history of science in reverse by assembling the solemn pronouncements of highest authority about what could not be done and could never happen.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

353. “Of all the strange ‘crimes’ that human beings have legislated out of nothing, ‘blasphemy’ is the most amazing – with ‘obscenity’ and ‘indecent exposure’ fighting it out for second and third place.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

354. “The mind’s ability to rationalize it’s own shortcomings is unlimited; I am no exception.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

355. “It takes two to create a heaven, but hell can be accomplished by one.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

356. “In a dilemma, it is helpful to change any variable, then reexamine the problem.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

357. “All my enemies are self-appointed.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

358. “Sin is cruelty and injustice, all else is peccadillo.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

359. “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

360. “The best thing about space travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

361. “How can I possibly put a new idea into your heads, if I do not first remove your delusions?”

— Robert A. Heinlein

362. “Oh, you have to charge ’em, Jubal. The marks won’t pay attention if it’s free.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

363. “Boats and ships are female because they are beautiful, lovable, expensive and unpredictable.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

364. “When you’re rich, you don’t have friends; you just have endless acquaintances.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

365. “Never encourage a man to cook breakfast; it cause him to wonder if women are necessary.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

366. “Grok’ means to understand so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the process being observed – to merge, to blend, to intermarry, to lose personal identity in group experience.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

367. “There will always be survivors.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

368. “Logic is a feeble reed, friend.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

369. “Once a man gets a reputation as a liar, he might as well be struck dumb, for people do not listen to the wind.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

370. “It’s a man’s business to be what he is, and to be it in style.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

371. “An invention is something that was “impossible” up to then that’s why governments grant patents.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

372. “It’s better to copulate than not.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

373. “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

374. “Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

375. “I don’t know Who is cranking; I’m pleased He doesn’t stop.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

376. “History is never surprising after it happens.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

377. “I believe in my neighbors. I know their faults and I know that their virtues far outweigh their faults.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

378. “Money problems can always be solved by a man not frightened by them.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

379. “Women talk when they want to. Or don’t.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

380. “I am not going to talk about religious beliefs, but about matters so obvious that it has gone out of style to mention them.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

381. “It’s an indulgence to sit in a room and discuss your beliefs as if they were a juicy piece of gossip.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

382. “A boy who gets a C- in ‘Appreciation of Television’ can’t be all bad.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

383. “Working because you want to is the best sort of play.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

384. “Many older physicians had gone to their graves calling Pasteur a liar, a fool, or worse – and without examining evidence which their “common sense” told them was impossible.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

385. “Figure out for yourself what you want to be really good at, know that you’ll never really satisfy yourself that you’ve made it, and accept that that’s okay.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

386. “I say ‘art’ advisedly, for art is undefined, undefinable, and without limits. I can use the word without fear of misusing it, for it has no exact meaning. There are as many meanings as there are artists.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

387. “What was “grokking”? He had been using the word for a week – and he didn’t grok it.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

388. “What I fear most are affirmative actions of sober and well- intentioned men, granting to government powers to do something that appears to need doing.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

389. “The purpose of war is to support your government’s decisions by force.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

390. “A poisonous snake is not dangerous, not any more than a loaded gun is dangerous – in each case, if you handle it properly. The thing that made that coral snake dangerous was that I hadn’t known what it was, what it could do. If, in my ignorance, I had handled it carelessly, it would have killed me as casually and as innocently as a kitten scratches.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

391. “But a well-run tyranny is almost as scarce as an efficient democracy.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

392. “When I don’t understand, I have an unbearable itch to know why.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

393. “But that would have left no choice. This was contradiction; at cusp, choice is. By choice, spirit grows.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

394. “Democracy can survive anything except Democrats.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

395. “Have you ever noticed how much they look like orchids? lovely!”

— Robert A. Heinlein

396. “Premenstrual Syndrome: Just before their periods women behave the way men do all the time.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

397. “Sex without love is merely healthy exercise.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

398. “Correct morality can only be derived from what man is – not from what do-gooders and well-meaning aunt Nellies would like him to be.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

399. “Take care of the cojones and the frijoles will take care of themselves. Try to have getaway money – but don’t be fanatic about it.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

400. “A committee is a life form with six or more legs and no brain.”

— Robert A. Heinlein