Robert A. Heinlein Quotes

Nursing does not diminish the beauty of a woman's breasts; it enhances their charm by making them look lived in and happy.

Unarmed hand-to-hand fighting does not change through the ages; only the name changes, and it has only one rule: do it first, do it fast, do it dirtiest.

It is impossible for a man to love his wife whole heartedly without loving all women somewhat. I suppose that the converse must be true of women.

If you do not believe that a man will commit murder for one can of tomatoes, then you have never been hungry.

No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority.

Never own more than you can carry in both hands at a dead run.

Never cast pearls before swine.

I do know that the slickest way to lie is to tell the right amount of truth--then shut up.

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

Specialization is for insects.

The nice thing about citing god as an authority is that you can prove anything you set out to prove.

But goodness alone is never enough. A hard, cold wisdom is required for goodness to accomplish good. Goodness without wisdom always accomplishes evil.

Some people insist that "mediocre" is better than "best." They delight in clipping wings because they themselves can't fly. They despise brains because they have none.

Delusions are often functional. A mother's opinions about her children's beauty, intelligence, goodness, et cetera ad nauseam, keep her from drowning them at birth.

Every general prohibition creates its bootleggers.

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

He never gave up his search for the Door into Summer.

Drop dead-but first get permit

A great artist can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is ... and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be ... more than that, he can make anyone with the sensitivity of an armadillo see that this lovely young girl is still alive

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

Humans hardly ever learn from the experience of others. They learn - when they do, which isn't often - on their own, the hard way.

Sex without love is merely healthy exercise.

The faith in which I was brought up assured me that I was better than other people; I was saved, they were damned.... Our hymns were loaded with arrogance - self-congratulation on how cozy we were with the Almighty and what a high opinion he had of us, what hell everybody else would catch come Judgment Day.

I did the only really brave thing I have ever done in my life: I inched forward.

Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.

The more you love, the more you can love - and the more intensely you love.

Spacemen - men who work in space, pilots and jetmen and astrogators and such - are men who like a few million miles of elbow room.

A poet who reads his verse in public may have other nasty habits.

Peace is an extension of war by political means. Plenty of elbow-room is pleasanter -- and much safer.

Most people can't think, most of the remainder won't think, and the small fraction who do think mostly can't do it very well.

It's amazing how much 'mature wisdom' resembles being too tired.

The golden sunshine of Italy congealed into tears. Here's to alcoholic brotherhood ... much more suited to the frail human soul, if any, than any other sort.

I was no fool; I was aware that when another man is too anxious to force money on one, it is time to examine the cards, for there is almost certainly something illegal, or dangerous, or both, involved in the matter.

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.

I believe in the honest craft of workmen.

The power to tax, once conceded, has no limits; it continues until it destroys.

An animal so poor in spirit that he won't even fight on his own behalf is already an evolutionary dead end; the best he can do for his breed is to crawl off and die, and not pass on his defective genes.

The first principle of freedom is the right to go to hell in your own handbasket.

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.

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.

I don't know Who is cranking; I'm pleased He doesn't stop.

Responsibility cannot be shared.

With eternity to draw on there could be no reason for hurrying - 'hurry' was not a concept in Martian.

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.

There are only five things really worth drawing; four of them are pretty girls and the fifth is cats.

Money is a powerful aphrodisiac but flowers work almost as well.

No woman ever ages beyond eighteen in her heart.

A prude is a person who thinks that his own rules of propriety are natural laws.