The most important lesson in the writing trade is that any manuscript is improved if you cut away the fat.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
A committee is the only known form of life with a hundred bellies and no brain.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote humorously critiques committees as ineffective and lacking intelligence despite having many members.
Robert A. Heinlein's quote satirically depicts committees as organizations that, despite their large numbers and collective resources ('a hundred bellies'), fail to demonstrate coherent thought or effective decision-making ('no brain'). This illustrates the common frustration with bureaucratic systems where collaboration does not equate to efficiency or wisdom.
Themes
CommitteeBureaucracyHumorInefficiencyLeadership
In practice
Example use cases
A lighthearted comment during a team meeting about decision-making processes.
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
Similar quotes
My wit is more polished than your mustache. The truth which I speak strikes more sparks from men's hearts than your spurs do from the cobblestones.
Edmond RostandRead
I learned you have to move fast, writing futuristic satire in America: Before you know it, you're a realist!
Jennifer EganRead
Ninety eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hardworking, honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them.
Lily TomlinRead
When I was four, I asked my mother for a valet for my birthday.
Karl LagerfeldRead
There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.
Erma BombeckRead
A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in.
H. L. MenckenRead