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Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man must develop himself if he has them forced down him, he will vomit them out.
Robert A. Heinlein
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Robert A. Heinlein
Age: 80 †
Born: 1907
Born: July 7
Died: 1988
Died: May 8
Essayist
Literary Critic
Naval Officer
Novelist
Prosaist
Science Fiction Writer
Science Writer
Screenwriter
Stonemason
Writer
Butler
Missouri
Robert Anson Heinlein
Anson MacDonald
Lyle Monroe
John Riverside
Caleb Saunders
Simon York
Men
Higher
Tribes
Levels
Virtues
Virtue
Devotion
Imagination
Forced
Responsibility
Loyalty
Family
Requires
Social
Develop
Vomit
Must
Level
Tribe
More quotes by Robert A. Heinlein
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
In this complex world, the scientific method, and the consequences of the scientific method are central to everything the human race is doing and to wherever we are going.
Robert A. Heinlein
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
Tilting at windmills hurts you more than the windmills.
Robert A. Heinlein
A fool cannot be protected from his folly. If you attempt to do so, you will not only arouse his animosity but also you will be attempting to deprive him of whatever benefit he is capable of deriving from experience. Never attempt to teach a pig to sing it wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Robert A. Heinlein
Pessimist by policy, optimist by temperament- it is possible to be both. How? By never taking an unnecessary chance and by minimizing the risks you can't avoid. This permits you to play out the game untroubled by the certainty of the outcome.
Robert A. Heinlein
Rarest of all is the man who can and does reason at all times, quickly, accurately, inclusively, despite hope or fear or bodily distress, without egocentric bias or thalmic disturbance, with correct memory, with clear distinction between fact, assumption, and non-fact.
Robert A. Heinlein
In a dilemma, it is helpful to change any variable, then reexamine the problem.
Robert A. Heinlein
Democracy can't work. Mathematicians, peasants, and animals, that's all there is - so democracy, a theory based on the assumption that mathematicians and peasants are equal, can never work. Wisdom is not additive its maximum is that of the wisest man in a given group.
Robert A. Heinlein
Always store beer in a dark place.
Robert A. Heinlein
As it says in Bible, God fights on side of heaviest artillery.
Robert A. Heinlein
Democracy is a poor system of government at best the only thing that can honestly be said in its favor is that it is eight times as good as any other method the human race has ever tried.
Robert A. Heinlein
From my point of view, a great deal of openly expressed piety is insufferable conceit.
Robert A. Heinlein
God split himself into a myriad parts that he might have friends. This may not be true, but it sounds good, and is no sillier than any other theology.
Robert A. Heinlein
If I had found out anything, it was that they could print it faster than I could study it.
Robert A. Heinlein
When you're rich, you don't have friends you just have endless acquaintances.
Robert A. Heinlein
A motion to adjourn is always in order.
Robert A. Heinlein
Any government will work if authority and responsibility are equal and coordinate. This does not insure “good” government, it simply insures that it will work. But such governments are rare — most people want to run things, but want no part of the blame. This used to be called the “backseat driver” syndrome.
Robert A. Heinlein
The commonest weakness of our race is our ability to rationalize our most selfish purposes.
Robert A. Heinlein
Humoring them costs nothing and adds to happiness in a world in which happiness is always in short supply.
Robert A. Heinlein
