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Some of the greatest wisdom I have ever found: Robert Heinlein

Posted by $ nickursis 7 years, 2 months ago to Culture
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Here is some of the best quotes that hit me as so clear, and common sense I could never quite see how people did not read and heed:

OK, folks, time for some of Robert Heinleins greatest observations:

“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.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Friday

“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.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

“You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once.”
― Robert A. Heinlein

“I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.”
― Robert A. Heinlein

“Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

“Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”
― Robert A. Heinlein

And the best:
“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

All Comments

  • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    He did treat cats special, as in the Cat that Walks Through Walls. The same cat appears in the Lazarus Long Time Enough for Love.
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  • Posted by $ DriveTrain 7 years, 1 month ago
    I take strong exception to the vicious aspersions cast on the motives of cats. Not only do cats rule, cats are the ultimate individualists. Dogs, on the other hand, wrote the book on social promiscuity. And they generally reek and don't know how to clean up after themselves. Speciesism! I am microagressed! 'Gonna sue!
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  • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    According to Wiki:
    Take Back Your Government!: A Practical Handbook for the Private Citizen Who Wants Democracy to Work was an early work by Robert A. Heinlein. It was published in 1992 after his death in 1988.

    Originally entitled How to Be a Politician, the book was written in 1946 but never found a publisher, perhaps due to excess candor. Like so many of Heinlein's works, he wrote what he knew. In this case, he based the work on his experience in California politics in the 1930s, particularly his efforts on behalf of Upton Sinclair's End Poverty in California (EPIC) movement and Sinclair's attempt to become the Democratic nominee for governor of California in 1934.

    The book contains annotations by Jerry Pournelle, who had little time to finish, polish, or fact-check, because the publishers demanded the work be available during Ross Perot's campaign for president.[citation needed]

    A new edition was published in 2012, with an introduction by Heinlein biographer William H. Patterson, Jr.

    2 Editions:

    August, 1992, Baen Books, paperback, 304pp, ISBN 0-671-72157-7
    January, 2012, Phoenix Pick, trade paperback, 246pp, ISBN 978-1-61242-061-5
    I have reserved one on Amazon as I try out my new found Kindle app on my phone...If RAH wrote it, it probably is useful...
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  • Posted by LazarusLong 7 years, 2 months ago
    This is the man who gave us "Grok-ing". I was reading Heinlein when I was in Jr High for the adventure. As I got older the stories became philosophical observations on the human condition and the failures of society. His dystopian societies in the future history series were the precursors of today's Hunger Games and Divergent series.
    I also love Heinlein's outlook on individual freedoms and the rights of men to make their own decisions and determine their respective fates.
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  • Posted by $ johnrobert2 7 years, 2 months ago
    He also wrote a "treatise" titled "Take Back Your Government", written in 1946. His irreverent writing style was evident even then. I have it on Nook. You might be able to find a hard copy through Bookfinders or similar sites.
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  • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Will rogers was more optimistic I think, Heinlein went to the core...so he is much less "politically correct". :)
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  • Posted by Flootus5 7 years, 2 months ago
    These are cool. I read some Heinlein over 40 years ago and never realized the depth. So, how does he compare with Will Rogers? Ha!
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  • Posted by Herb7734 7 years, 2 months ago
    Heinlein is one of the truly wise men to have walked the earth. And perhaps elsewhere.
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  • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Than you, I have been to the web site a few times but did not find this, I will have to see if I can get a copy of the unaltered version, 60K words is a lot of Heinlein to lose....
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  • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I don't know about that, if there was an unedited version, I would appreciate a link. It would be interesting to see what was "so bad".
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  • Posted by slfisher 7 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It's also important to point out that SIASL was heavily edited and a number of more sexually explicit things were taken out.
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  • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I would think Heinlein was pointing out the American affection for "stereotypes" and the implication that looks define character. I found that he liked to carry his threads of those thoughts into several books, Finally in Time Enough For Love he addressed his views on nudity and incest, including Lazarus's internal struggle with his desire for his daughters. But when you live for hundreds of years and can be placed in a new clone or rejuvenated back to youth, that introduces a whole new set of questions. But Jill also started out as a "prude" and eventually morphed into a free person.
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  • Posted by slfisher 7 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    In Stranger, there's a reference to Jill suggesting to Mike that he look more "masculine," and less "pretty," so he wouldn't attract gay guys, but that those "poor in-betweeners" probably wouldn't be offered water anyway.

    On the other hand, TEFL and later books have a number of gay and bi characters.
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  • Posted by dnr 7 years, 2 months ago
    "Beware of altruism. It is based on self-deception, the root of all evil." - The Notebooks of Lazarus Long. Heinlein and Rand together in spirit.
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  • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I did not sense any anti-gay stuff in Stranger, from the perspective of Mike and his "family", just from the "establishment" characters. Jubal Harshaw is another classic character that appears in several books.
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  • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Another great one. Although that was before the education system left us with a herd of idiots who do not know in the least when and how to use a weapon.
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