Quotes from Methuselah's Children

“When it don’t rain, the roof don’t leak; when it rains, I can’t fix it nohow.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Methuselah's Children

“was no such thing as a “dangerous weapon,” there were only dangerous men.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Methuselah's Children

“That’s what I was trying to find out when we were rushed off on this damned safari. They have unusual intestinal flora and it may have something to do with that. But I think it has to do with the fact that they never stop growing.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Methuselah's Children

“It’s not that easy. You can make omelet from eggs, but not eggs from omelet.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Methuselah's Children

“Correct or not, he felt himself to be a useless pensioner, an impotent object of charity.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Methuselah's Children

“Life is short, but the years are long.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Methuselah's Children

“light-months—and it was now possible to infer by parainterferometric methods that the star (ZD9817, or simply “our” star) had planets of some sort.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Methuselah's Children

“A committee is the only known form of life with a hundred bellies and no brain.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Methuselah's Children

“Any custom is man-made and is therefore a finite attempt to describe an infinity of relationships. It follows as the night from day that any custom necessarily has its exceptions.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Methuselah's Children

“It is contrary to our customs to permit scientific knowledge to be held as a monopoly for the few. When concealing such knowledge strikes at life itself, the action becomes treason to the race.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Methuselah's Children

“Citizens are urged to tolerate cheerfully any minor inconvenience this may cause them; your right of privacy will be respected in every way possible; your right of free movement may be interrupted temporarily, but full economic restitution will be made.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Methuselah's Children

“Whenever the citizens fix their attention on one issue to the exclusion of others, the situation is ripe for scalawags, demagogues, ambitious men on horseback.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from Methuselah's Children

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Popular quotes

“Assume the worst. About everybody. But don't let this poisoned outlook affect your job performance. Let it all roll off your back. Ignore it. Be amused by what you see and suspect. Just because someone you work with is a miserable, treacherous, self-serving, capricious and corrupt asshole shouldn't prevent you from enjoying their company, working with them or finding them entertaining.”
― Anthony Bourdain, quote from Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

“We put all our politicians in prison as soon as they’re elected. Don’t you?” “Why?” “It saves time.”
― Terry Pratchett, quote from The Last Continent

“I've tried to make choices. You don't really trust me to.”
― Kiera Cass, quote from The Prince

“...the fact that certain members of the oppressor class join the oppressed in their struggle for liberation, thus moving from one pole of the contradiction to the other... Theirs is a fundamental role, and has been throughout the history of this struggle. It happens, however, that as they cease to be exploiters or indifferent spectators or simply the heirs of exploitation and move to the side of the exploited, they almost always bring with them the marks of their origin: their prejudices and their deformations, which include a lack of confidence in the people's ability to think, to want, and to know. Accordingly, these adherents to the people's cause constantly run the risk of falling into a type of generosity as malefic as that of the oppressors. The generosity of the oppressors is nourished by an unjust order, which must be maintained in order to justify that generosity. Our converts, on the other hand, truly desire to transform the unjust order; but because of their background they believe that they must be the executors of the transformation. They talk about the people, but they do not trust them; and trusting the people is the indispensable precondition for revolutionary change. A real humanist can be identified more by his trust in the people, which engages him in their struggle, than by a thousand actions in their favor without that trust.”
― Paulo Freire, quote from Pedagogy of the Oppressed

“But this is how popular culture works: You allow yourself to be convinced you’re
sharing a reality that doesn’t exist.”
― Chuck Klosterman, quote from Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story

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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.