The most important lesson in the writing trade is that any manuscript is improved if you cut away the fat.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
Government! Three-fourths parasitic and the rest stupid fumbling - oh, Harshaw concluded that man, a social animal, could not avoid government, any more than an individual could escape bondage to his bowels. But simply because an evil was inescapable was no reason to term it "good." He wished that government would wander off and get lost! (96)
Interpretation
What this quote means
Heinlein critiques government by suggesting that while it is a necessary evil in society, it is not inherently good.
In this quote, Heinlein presents a cynical view of government as largely ineffective and burdensome, comparing it to an inescapable bodily function. He argues that just because government is a necessary part of social structure, it does not mean it should be regarded positively; instead, he expresses a wish for government to disappear entirely, highlighting the tension between the need for societal organization and the frustration it can cause.
Themes
GovernmentSocietyPoliticsCritiquePhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about the role of government in a public forum.
More from Robert A. Heinlein
All quotes →An 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
The lives of individuals of the human race form a constant plot, in which every attempt to isolate one piece of living that has a meaning separate from the rest-for example, the meeting of two people, which will become decisive for both-must bear in mind that each of the two brings with himself a texture of events, environments, other people, and that from the meeting, in turn, other stories will be derived which will break off from their common story.
Italo CalvinoRead
When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say.
George R. R. MartinRead
If you and I are to live religious lives, it mustn't be that we talk a lot about religion, but that our manner of life is different. It is my belief that only if you try to be helpful to other people will you in the end find your way to God.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
Commerce is a noble profession, and Jews should get over any self-hatred they might harbor from contemplating the capitalist spirit of diaspora Judaism.
Steven PinkerRead
The whole object of the Prophets and the Sages was to declare that a limit is set to human reason where it must halt.
MaimonidesRead
As liberty of thought is absolute, so is liberty of speech, which is 'inseparable' from the liberty of thought. Liberty of speech, moreover, is essential not only for its own sake but for the sake of truth, which requires absolute liberty for the utterance of unpopular and even demonstrably false opinions.
Gertrude HimmelfarbRead