Robert A. Heinlein

Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor.

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.

It's a man's business to be what he is, and to be it in style.

A woman is not property, and husbands who think otherwise are living in a dreamworld.

There is no conclusive evidence of life after death, but there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know, so why fret about it?

Certainly the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you; if you don't bet you can't win.

And suddenly I knew I was people and could not stop laughing.

History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.

It would take centuries and he must grow and grow and grow, but he was in no hurry--he grokked that Eternity and the ever-beautifully-changing Now were identical.

His older self had taught his younger self a language which the older self knew because the younger self, after being taught, grew up to be the older self and was, therefore, capable of teaching.

Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best, he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear his shoes, bathe, and not make messes in the house.

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.

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

Consider the black widow spider. It's a timid little beastie, useful and, for my taste, the prettiest of the arachnids, with its shiny, patent-leather finish and its red hourglass trademark. But the poor thing has the fatal misfortune of possessing enormously too much power for its size. So everybody kills it on sight.

Being sorry won't get you into heaven. Get happy, son. Get that old spring into your step and stay on your toes.

Jill: 'I don't pay attention to politics.' Ben: 'You should. It's barely less important than your own heart beat.' Jill: 'I don't pay attention to that, either.'

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.

For me, politeness is a sine qua non of civilization.

Being right too soon is socially unacceptable.

Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat.

It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.