The most important lesson in the writing trade is that any manuscript is improved if you cut away the fat.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
By cultivating the beautiful we scatter the seeds of heavenly flowers, as by doing good we cultivate those that belong to humanity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Fostering beauty and goodness enriches our lives and those around us.
In this quote, Heinlein expresses the idea that nurturing beauty and performing good deeds creates a positive impact on both ourselves and humanity. Just as we cultivate beautiful flowers, our actions and intentions can spread goodness and inspire others to do the same, contributing to a more compassionate world.
Themes
BeautyGoodnessHumanityCultivateFlowers
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about community service, one might say, 'As Robert A. Heinlein wisely noted, by cultivating the beautiful, we scatter the seeds of heavenly flowers.'
More from Robert A. Heinlein
All quotes βAn armed society is a polite society.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
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. HeinleinRead
Long human words (the longer the better) were easy, unmistakable, and rarely changed their meanings . . . but short words were slippery, unpredictable, changing their meanings without any pattern.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
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If I were a physician, and if I were allowed to prescribe just one remedy for all the ills of the modern world, I would prescribe silence. For even if the Word of God were proclaimed in the modern world, how could one hear it with so much noise? Therefore, create silence.
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Remedies are more tardy in their operation than diseases.
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Judicial judgment must take deep account of the day before yesterday in order that yesterday may not paralyze today.
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He may delay because it would not be safe to give us at once what we ask: we are not ready for it. To give ere we could truly receive, would be to destroy the very heart and hope of prayer, to cease to be our Father. The delay itself may work to bring us nearer to our help, to increase the desire, perfect the prayer, and ripen the receptive condition.
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It's not that, living in Pakistan, I feel an enormous constraint on how I can write and what I can say; rather, I recognize that one has to navigate these things... Am I aware of things that one could say that would be risky or that could be dangerous? Certainly I'm aware of those things.
Mohsin HamidRead