Quotes from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls

Robert A. Heinlein ·  388 pages

Rating: (19K votes)


“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.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls


“Butterflies are not insects,' Captain John Sterling said soberly. 'They are self-propelled flowers.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls


“There is no way that writers can be tamed and rendered civilized. Or even cured.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls


“I scrolled on down to the obituaries. I usually read the obituaries first as there is always the happy chance that one of them will make my day.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls


“I woke up in bed with a man and a cat. The man was a stranger; the cat was not”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls



“A monarch’s neck should always have a noose around it—it keeps him upright.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls


“The hardest part about gaining any new idea is sweeping out the false idea occupying that niche. As long as that niche is occupied, evidence and proof and logical demonstration get nowhere. But once the niche is emptied of the wrong idea that has been filling it — once you can honestly say, ‘I don’t know’, then it becomes possible to get at the truth.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls


“Hit it! You have to hit it harder than that. Electrons are timid little things but notional; you have to let them know who’s boss.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls


“I tried to dig out of the computer a call directory for Luna. But it was still sulking. I could not get it to list its own directory. So I tried some test problems on it. It insisted that 2 + 2 = 3.99999999999999999999999.... When I tried to get it to admit that 4 = 2 + 2, it became angry and claimed that 4 = 3.141592653589793238462643383279... So I gave up.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls


“How is a sincere criminal, trying hard, going to get ahead in his profession if his victim fails to cooperate?”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls



“There is no way to stop. Writers go on writing long after it becomes financially unnecessary...because it hurts less to write than it does not to write.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls


“For millennia philosophers and saints have tried to reason out a logical scheme for the universe... until Hilda came along and demonstrated that the universe is not logical but whimsical, its structure depending solely on the dreams and nightmares of non-logical dreamers.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls


“a friend who offers help without asking for explanations is a treasure beyond price.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls


“...writing is a legal way of avoiding work without actually stealing and one that doesn't take any talent or training”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls


“The only constant thing in these shifting, fairy-chess worlds is human love.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls



“there used to be, dirtside, a legal defenses called "diminished capacity" and "not guilty by reason on insanity." These concepts would bewilder a Loonie. In Luna City a man would necessarily be of diminished mental capacity to even think about rape; to carry one out would be the strongest possible proof of insanity - but among Loonies such mental disorders would not gain a rapist any sympathy. loonies do not psychoanalyze a rapist; they kill him. Now. Fast. Brutally.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls


“Women and cats do what they do; there is nothing a man can do about it”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls


“Marrying Gretchen is a good idea, darling; I would enjoy bringing her up. Teaching her to shoot, helping her with her first baby, coaching her in how to handle a knife, working out with her in martial arts, all the homey domestic skills a girl needs in this modern world.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls


“I'm not feisty. But when you're as small as I am and female if you don't stand up for your rights, you're sure to be pushed around by big, hairy, smelly men with delusions about male superiority.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls


“Richard, Bill has the socialist disease in its worst form; he thinks the world owes him a living. He told me sincerely - smugly! - that of course everyone was entitled to the best possible medical and hospital service - free of course, unlimited of course, and of course the government should pay for it.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls



“Almost all crime depends on the acquiescence of the victim. If the victim refuses his assigned role, the criminal is placed at a disadvantage - one so severe, that it usually takes an understanding and compassionate judge to set things right. I had broken the rules. I had fought back.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, quote from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls


About the author

Robert A. Heinlein
Born place: in Butler, MO, The United States
Born date July 7, 1907
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Popular quotes

“To multiply forty-six times forty-six, you figure how much greater forty-six is than twenty-five. The answer is twenty-one. Then you figure how much less forty-six is than fifty. The answer is four. You square the four and get sixteen. You put the twenty-one and the sixteen together and the answer is twenty-one sixteen, or 2,116.

To multiply forty-four times forty-four, you figure how much greater forty-four is than twenty-five. The answer is nineteen. Then you figure how much less forty-four is than fifty. The answer is six. You square the six and get thirty-six. You put the nineteen and the thirty-six together, and the answer is nineteen thirty-six, or 1,936.”
― Frank B. Gilbreth Jr., quote from Cheaper by the Dozen


“I'm beginning to think cookies is a code word for something else."

"Maybe it is." He tugged on my bag again as he took a confident step back, forcing me down another step. "And just think about it. If cookie was a code word, whatever it symbolizes, it's been in your mouth, sweetheart.”
― J. Lynn, quote from Wait for You


“Later, Bishop Crandall dropped by
The house to give me a stern
reprimand. He sat across
the cluttered table,

playing with a paper clip.
'Your parents are worries about you, Pattyn.'

I was worried about myself.
But I wasn't about to let him
know it. "Really?"

'Really. What have you got to say for yourself? You've always been such a good girl.'

Good girl. Sit. Stay. Fetch.
Bristles rose up along my
spine. "Define good."

'I don't appreciate your attitude,
Pattyn. Fast and pray. Search your
soul for the inequities in your life.'

"Any inequity in my life
began when I was born
female. Can you fix that?"

'You'll have to fix that yourself,
by concentrating on the things
God expects of you.'

His two-faced rhetoric
was pissing me off. "You
mean like kissing your ass?"

He slammed his hand on the table.
'I will not listen to that sort
of language. Apologize!'

Behind me, I hear Mom
gasp. But I was on a roll.
"I'm sorry, Bishop

I'm sorry I ever believed
you might have something
worthwhile to say.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned


“El día empieza a medianoche, en mitad de la oscuridad. Y luego todo es luz.”
― Juan Gomez-Jurado, quote from The Traitor's Emblem


“Six years previously, Miss Brodie had led her new class into the garden for a history lesson underneath the big elm. On the way through the school corridors they passed the headmistress's study. The door was wide open, the room was empty.
'Little girls,' said Miss Brodie, 'come and observe this.'
They clustered round the open door while she pointed to a large poster pinned with drawing-pins on the opposite wall within the room. It depicted a man's big face. Underneath were the words 'Safety First'.
'This is Stanley Baldwin who got in as Prime Minister and got out again ere long,' said Miss Brodie. 'Miss Mackay retains him on the wall because she believes in the slogan "Safety First". But Safety does not come first. Goodness, Truth and Beauty come first. Follow me.”
― Muriel Spark, quote from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie


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