Quotes from Glory Road

Robert A. Heinlein ·  320 pages

Rating: (10.8K votes)


“What did I want?
I wanted a Roc's egg. I wanted a harem loaded with lovely odalisques less than the dust beneath my chariot wheels, the rust that never stained my sword,. I wanted raw red gold in nuggets the size of your fist and feed that lousy claim jumper to the huskies! I wanted to get u feeling brisk and go out and break some lances, then pick a like wench for my droit du seigneur--I wanted to stand up to the Baron and dare him to touch my wench! I wanted to hear the purple water chuckling against the skin of the Nancy Lee in the cool of the morning watch and not another sound, nor any movement save the slow tilting of the wings of the albatross that had been pacing us the last thousand miles.
I wanted the hurtling moons of Barsoom. I wanted Storisende and Poictesme, and Holmes shaking me awake to tell me, "The game's afoot!" I wanted to float down the Mississippi on a raft and elude a mob in company with the Duke of Bilgewater and the Lost Dauphin.
I wanted Prestor John, and Excalibur held by a moon-white arm out of a silent lake. I wanted to sail with Ulysses and with Tros of Samothrace and eat the lotus in a land that seemed always afternoon. I wanted the feeling of romance and the sense of wonder I had known as a kid. I wanted the world to be what they had promised me it was going to be--instead of the tawdry, lousy, fouled-up mess it is.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Glory Road


“I was not offended, my love. An insult is like a drink; it affects one only if accepted. And pride is too heavy baggage for my journey...”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Glory Road


“There are things which cannot be taught in ten easy lessons, nor popularized for the masses; they take years of skull sweat.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Glory Road


“Yes, sir, there are things to see and do on the French Riviera without spending money.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Glory Road


“What did I want? I wanted a Roc's egg. I wanted a harem loaded with lovely odalisques less than the dust beneath my chariot wheels, the rust that never stained my sword. I wanted raw red gold in nuggets the size of your fist, and feed that lousy claim jumper to the huskies! I wanted to get up feeling brisk and go out and break some lances, then pick a likely wench for my droit du seigneur - I wanted to stand up to the Baron and dare him to touch my wench! I wanted to hear the purple water chuckling against the skin of the Nancy Lee in the cool of the morning watch and not another sound, nor any movement save the slow tilting of the wings of the albatross that had been pacing us the last thousand miles. I wanted the hurtling moons of Barsoom. I wanted Storisende and Poictesme, and Holmes shaking me awake to tell me, "The game's afoot!" I wanted to float down the Mississippi on a raft and elude a mob in company with the Duke of Bilgewater and Lost Dauphin. I wanted Prester John, and Excalibur held by a moon-white arm out of a silent lake. I wanted to sail with Ulysses and with Tros of Samothrace and to eat the lotus in a land that seemed always afternoon. I wanted the feeling of romance and the sense of wonder I had known as a kid. I wanted the world to be the way they had promised me it was going to be, instead of the tawdry, lousy, fouled-up mess it is. I had had one chance - for ten minutes yesterday afternoon. Helen of Troy, whatever your true name may be - and I had known it and I had let it slip away. Maybe one chance is all you ever get.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Glory Road



“I object to conscription the way a lobster objects to boiling water: it may be his finest hour but it’s not his choice.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Glory Road


“Logic is a feeble reed, friend. “Logic” proved that airplanes can’t fly and that H-bombs won’t work and that stones don’t fall out of the sky. Logic is a way of saying that anything that didn’t happen yesterday won’t happen tomorrow.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Glory Road


“Do you speak English?" "Certainly. And I understand American.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Glory Road


“The fact is I am a compulsive reader. Thirty-five cents’ worth of Gold Medal Original will put me right to sleep. Or Perry Mason. But I’ll read the ads in an old Paris-Match that has been used to wrap herring before I’ll do without.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Glory Road


“But it’s a hell of a note when you can’t even kill a dragon and feel lighthearted afterwards.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Glory Road



“A magician is a rule-of-thumb engineer.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Glory Road


“I don't gamble, if you will concede that poker is a game of skill.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Glory Road


“But I didn’t go to sleep. The truth is, I’ve got a monkey on my back, a habit worse than marijuana though not as expensive as heroin. I can stiff it out and get to sleep anyway—but it wasn’t helping that I could see light in Star’s tent and a silhouette that was no longer troubled by a dress. The fact is I am a compulsive reader. Thirty-five cents’ worth of Gold Medal Original will put me right to sleep. Or Perry Mason. But I’ll read the ads in an old Paris-Match that has been used to wrap herring before I’ll do without.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Glory Road


About the author

Robert A. Heinlein
Born place: in Butler, MO, The United States
Born date July 7, 1907
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Also, when you are young, you think you can predict the likely pains and bleaknesses that age might bring. You imagine yourself being lonely, divorced, widowed; children growing away from you, friends dying. You imagine the loss of status, the loss of desire – and desirability. You may go further and consider your own approaching death, which, despite what company you may muster, can only be faced alone. But all this is looking ahead. What you fail to do is look ahead, and then imagine yourself looking back from the future point. Learning the new emotions that time brings. Discovering, for example, that as the witnesses to your life diminish, there is less corroboration, and therefore less certainty, as to what you are or have been. Even if you have assiduously kept records – in words, sound, pictures – you may find that you have attended to the wrong kind of record-keeping. What was the line Adrian used to quote? 'History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.”
― Julian Barnes, quote from The Sense of an Ending


“They stared at each other, wanting each other, drawn to each other, but their silent shout of love went unheard in the roar of misunderstanding, and the clatter of culturally ingrained beliefs.”
― Jean M. Auel, quote from The Mammoth Hunters


“Sometimes, even in the most unfortunate of lives, there will occur a moment or two of good fortune.”
― Lemony Snicket, quote from The Reptile Room


“apparently it is ungraceful of me
to mention my period in public
cause the actual biology
of my body is too real

it is okay to sell what's
between a woman's legs
more than it is okay to
mention its inner workings

the recreational use of
this body is seen as
beautiful while
its nature is
seen as ugly”
― Rupi Kaur, quote from Milk and Honey


“Because I must do something while I still can. Each soul is still incalculably precious.”
― Michel Faber, quote from The Crimson Petal and the White


Interesting books

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
(20.5K)
Dinner at the Homesi...
by Anne Tyler
Absolutely, Positively
(4.2K)
Absolutely, Positive...
by Jayne Ann Krentz
What's Wrong with the World
(1.4K)
What's Wrong with th...
by G.K. Chesterton
The Faerie Queene
(14.3K)
The Faerie Queene
by Edmund Spenser
A Rose for Emily and Other Stories
(26.3K)
A Rose for Emily and...
by William Faulkner
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
(7.4K)
The Secret Life of W...
by James Thurber

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.