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8b3d6a7
|
Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.
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happiness
love
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Robert A. Heinlein |
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1730314
|
Happiness consists in getting enough sleep. Just that, nothing more.
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Robert A. Heinlein |
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295f2ff
|
Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy - in fact, they are almost incompatible; one emotion hardly leaves room for the other.
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love
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Robert A. Heinlein |
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8a6721e
|
You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity.
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stupidity
malice
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Robert A. Heinlein |
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101d1ae
|
Never try to outstubborn a cat.
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stubborness
stubborn
cats
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
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6d97a53
|
There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.
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income-tax
taxes
pay
tyranny
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
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0beacb9
|
Being a mother is an attitude, not a biological relation.
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motherhood
mothering
parenting
mother
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
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0114b38
|
I've found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts so much . . . because it's the only thing that'll make it stop hurting.
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Robert A. Heinlein |
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b26f33f
|
A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.
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society
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Robert A. Heinlein |
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2e8690f
|
Sex, whatever else it is, is an athletic skill. The more you practice, the more you can, the more you want to, the more you enjoy it, the less it tires you.
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sex
skills
practice
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
47d51e4
|
Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect. But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impo..
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Robert A. Heinlein |
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cd71d0d
|
Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it.
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limitations
overcoming-obstacles
impossibilities
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
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ae04872
|
The most preposterous notion that Homo sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history.
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universe
history
dream
fantasy
adoration
expenses
lord-god
petulant
preposterous
prayers
homo-sapiens
ruler
industry
lord
evidence
flattery
creation
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
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2242ba1
|
There are no dangerous weapons; there are only dangerous men.
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Robert A. Heinlein |
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1b6731c
|
A desire not to butt into other people's business is at least eighty percent of all human wisdom.
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|
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
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b2aaf6c
|
An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.
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|
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
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60ec71a
|
A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill.
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|
dissent
suppression
society
trouble
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
499b832
|
Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor.
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|
violence
war
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
85f3970
|
Secrecy begets tyranny.
|
|
freedom
patriot-act
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
177d579
|
Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.
|
|
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
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8679b1d
|
A generation which ignores history has no past -- and no future.
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|
history
past
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
b94bd19
|
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.
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|
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
14efd01
|
Liberty is never unalienable; it must be redeemed regularly with the blood of patriots or it always vanishes. Of all the so-called natural human rights that have ever been invented, liberty is least likely to be cheap and is never free of cost.
|
|
unalienable-rights
patriot
liberty
rights
patriotism
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
a96d61b
|
But goodness alone is never enough. A hard, cold wisdom is required for goodness to accomplish good. Goodness without wisdom always accomplishes evil.
|
|
wisdom
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
820c95e
|
Anybody can look at a pretty girl and see a pretty girl. An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl that she used to be. But a great artist--a master--and that is what Auguste Rodin was--can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is . . . and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be . . . and more than that, he can make a..
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|
continuity
masterpiece
maturation
vision
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
c85ff47
|
If you've got the truth you can demonstrate it. Talking doesn't prove it.
|
|
faith
science
philosophy
scientific-method
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
10d7959
|
Thinking doesn't pay. Just makes you discontented with what you see around you.
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|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
5ea1b47
|
Be wary of strong drink, it can make you shoot at the tax collector...and miss.
|
|
drinking
inspirational
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
12e2407
|
You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.
|
|
politics
prejudices
rhetoric
propaganda
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
092c38b
|
I never do anything I don't want to do. Nor does anyone, but in my case I am always aware of it.
|
|
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
074f6ac
|
Some people insist that 'mediocre' is better than 'best.' They delight in clipping wings because they themselves can't fly. They despise brains because they have none.
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|
life
philosophy
truth
wisdom
inspirational
excellence
critics
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
ffe0cfd
|
I do know that the slickest way to lie is to tell the right amount of truth--then shut up.
|
|
politics
honesty
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
afdfdb2
|
There is no safety this side of the grave
|
|
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
c6f2055
|
My dear, I used to think I was serving humanity . . . and I pleasured in the thought. Then I discovered that humanity does not want to be served; on the contrary it resents any attempt to serve it. So now I do what pleases myself.
|
|
sociology
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
7dfe0a9
|
Take sides! Always take sides! You will sometimes be wrong - but the man who refuses to take sides must always be wrong.
|
|
wrong
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
551c18e
|
Butterflies are not insects,' Captain John Sterling said soberly. 'They are self-propelled flowers.
|
|
flowers
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
858e81a
|
Live and learn, or you don't live long.
|
|
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
5f5f1f4
|
It's up to the artist to use language that can be understood, not hide it in some private code. Most of these jokers don't even want to use language you and I know or can learn . . . they would rather sneer at us and be smug, because we 'fail' to see what they are driving at. If indeed they are driving at anything--obscurity is usually the refuge of incompetence.
|
|
writing
clarity
art
communication
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
c40cf6a
|
Heinlein's Rules for Writers Rule One: You Must Write Rule Two: Finish What Your Start Rule Three: You Must Refrain From Rewriting, Except to Editorial Order
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|
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
d5a704c
|
Our behavior is different. How often have you seen a headline like this?--TWO DIE ATTEMPTING RESCUE OF DROWNING CHILD. If a man gets lost in the mountains, hundreds will search and often two or three searchers are killed. But the next time somebody gets lost just as many volunteers turn out. Poor arithmetic, but very human. It runs through all our folklore, all human religions, all our literature--a racial conviction that when one human nee..
|
|
rescue
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
f2958c8
|
Most neuroses and some psychoses can be traced to the unnecessary and unhealthy habit of daily wallowing in the troubles and sins of five billion strangers.
|
|
friendship
social-networking
news
internet
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
a594a61
|
A woman is not property, and husbands who think otherwise are living in a dreamworld.
|
|
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
9a36593
|
If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for ... but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.
|
|
vote
democracy
|
Robert A. Heinlein |
|
ca4a8fb
|
If a grasshopper tries to fight a lawnmower, one may admire his courage but not his judgement.
|
|
hopelessness
lost-causes
|
Robert A. Heinlein |