Quotes by Robert A. Heinlein

About Robert A. Heinlein:

Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was an influential and controversial author of the genre in his time.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

- I'm so busy doing what I must do that I don't have time for what I ought to do... and I never get a chance to do what I want to do! - Son, that's universal. The way to keep that recipe from killing you is occasionally to do what you want to do anyh...

Robert A. Heinlein

The way to find justice is to deal fairly with other people and not worry about how they deal with you.

Robert A. Heinlein

Customs tell a man who he is, where he belongs, what he must do. Better illogical customs than none; men cannot live together without them. From an anthropologist's view, 'justice' is a search for workable customs.

Robert A. Heinlein

I woke up in bed with a man and a cat. The man was a stranger; the cat was not

Robert A. Heinlein

How is a sincere criminal, trying hard, going to get ahead in his profession if his victim fails to cooperate?

Robert A. Heinlein

Butterflies are not insects,' Captain John Sterling said soberly. 'They are self-propelled flowers.

Robert A. Heinlein

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

Nothing could go wrong because nothing had...I meant "nothing would." No - Then I quit trying to phrase it, realizing that if time travel ever became widespread, English grammar was going to have to add a whole new set of tenses to describe reflexive...

Robert A. Heinlein

Take sides! Always take sides! You will sometimes be wrong - but the man who refuses to take sides must always be wrong.

Robert A. Heinlein

I was there to see beautiful naked women. So was everybody else. It's a common failing.

Robert A. Heinlein

The coldest depth of Hell is reserved for people who abandon kittens.

Robert A. Heinlein

Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms such as you have named...but 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 ...

Robert A. Heinlein

It seems to me that any law that is not enforced and can't be enforced weakens all other laws.

Robert A. Heinlein

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

I don't see why human people make such a heavy trip out of sex. It isn't anything complex, it is simply the best thing in life, even better than food.

Robert A. Heinlein

You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity.

Robert A. Heinlein

Yes, sir, there are things to see and do on the French Riviera without spending money.

Robert A. Heinlein

In Wilson's scale of evaluations breakfast rated just after life itself and ahead of the chance of immortality.

Robert A. Heinlein

You are telling me that I did something because I was going to do something.” “Well, didn’t you? You were there.” “No, I didn’t—no… well, maybe I did, but it didn’t feel like it.” “Why should you expect it to? It was something t...

Robert A. Heinlein

There were many, many times thereafter that Don regretted having enlisted - but so has every man who ever volunteered for military service.

Robert A. Heinlein

My old man says when it's time to be counted, the important thing is to be man enough to stand up.

Robert A. Heinlein

Author Bio

  • NameRobert A. Heinlein
  • DescriptionAmerican science fiction author
  • AliasesHeinlein Society
  • BornJuly 7, 1907
  • DiedMay 9, 1988
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionWriter; Novelist
  • WorksFarnham's Freehold; Starship Troopers; Stranger In A Strange Land
  • AwardsPrometheus Award - Hall Of Fame