Robert A. Heinlein · 276 pages
Rating: (22.9K votes)
“Being a mother is an attitude, not a biological relation.”
“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.”
“Money problems can always be solved by a man not frightened by them. ”
“We’re simply trying to survive—and the first principle of survival is not to worry about the impossible and concentrate on what’s possible.”
“Many problems can be solved by a man not frightened by them.”
“But when I see a black widow, I step on it; I don’t plead with it to be a good little spider and please stop poisoning people.”
“The best things in history are accomplished by people who get tired of being shoved around.”
“good luck’ follows careful preparation; ‘bad luck’ comes from sloppiness.”
“Getting a problem analyzed is two-thirds of solving it.”
“contrary to some opinions, it is better to be a dead hero than a live louse. Dying is messy and inconvenient but even a louse dies someday no matter what he will do to stay alive and he is forever having to explain his choice.”
“To die trying is the proudest humans thing.”
“I wonder how harmless such people are? To what extent civilization is retarded by the laughing jackasses, the empty-minded belittlers?”
“There is no such thing as luck. There is only adequate or inadequate preparation to cope with a statistical universe.”
“Daddy says that, in a dilemma, it is helpful to change any variable, then reexamine the problem.”
“I needed a space suit the way a pig needs a pipe organ.”
“I had never been much interested in Pluto, too many facts and too much isolation.”
“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. Pfah!”
“When you read about chemistry and physics, you want to do them too.”
“Mother had the social restraint of an ambassador.”
“More depended on the student than on the school.”
“Everybody else specializes. Daddy knows everything, and he puts the pieces together.”
“The Mother Thing makes our world.”
“You can't believe what a lovely planet we have until you see her from outside.”
“Library science was the foundation of all sciences.”
“Dress yourself in heavy fishing waders, put on an overcoat and boxing gloves and a bucket over your head, then have somebody strap two sacks of cement across your shoulders and you will know what a space suit feels like under one gravity.”
“Find out what you want to do, then do it. Never talk yourself into doing something you don’t want. Think”
“26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. ”
“That experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you’re generally better off sticking with what you know. And the third is that sometimes your best investments are the ones you don’t make. Because”
“By weaving their thoughts and feelings into the substance of reality, the Weavers had ensured anyone writing about them would secure an instant bestseller – which wasn’t particularly difficult, considering the Weavers held the strings on the one holding the pen.
Those who controlled the Pattern, controlled reality.”
“For six months, from October to March, I succumbed to my natural tendency for reclusion, living between my bed and my desk.”
“And without a doubt it is more comfortable to endure blind bondage than to work for one's liberation; the dead, too, are better suited to the earth than the living.”
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