Quotessence
Home / Authors / Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein

Robert A. Heinlein Quotes

Science writer

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenIfsPeopleHumansWayKnowsDoeReligionThinkingLongShouldSelfStranger In A Strange LandMindForceLawMayWantSexMoral

Famous Robert A. Heinlein Quotes

“Don't appeal to mercy to God the Father up in the sky, little man, because he's not at home and never was at home, and couldn't care less. What you do with yourself, whether you are happy or unhappy- live or die- is strictly your business and the universe doesn't care. In fact you may be the universe and the only cause of all your troubles. But, at best, the most you can hope for is comradeship with comrades no more divine (or just as divine) as you are. So quit sniveling and face up to it- 'Thou art God!'”

MenMayLittlesArtFactsHomeCareFacesReligionDiesUniverseFatherCausesTroubleSkyDivineMercyQuittingUnhappyAppealsComradeLittle ManComradeship
Author:Robert A. Heinlein
Create image

“Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.”

PeopleYearsMayDifferentSelfDiesDifficultDutyRewardsPatientDebtObligationInstantSelf RespectWillingness
Book:Time Enough for Love
Create image

“Secrecy is the keystone to all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy and censorship. When any government or church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, "This you may not read, this you must not know," the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man who has been hoodwinked in this fashion; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, whose mind is free. No, not the rack nor the atomic bomb, not anything. You can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.”

KnowsMenMindMayLittlesHas BeensEndsMatterGovernmentReligionForceCan DoChurchFreedomResultsSubjectsFashionAmountNeededHolyAtheistTyrannyOppressionConquerMotiveBombsCensorshipSecrecyFree ManAtomic BombRacksEnd ResultsKeystones
Author:Robert A. Heinlein
Create image

“A religion is a source of happiness and I would not deprive anyone of happiness. But it is a comfort appropriate for the weak, not for the strong--and you are strong. The great trouble with religion--any religion--is that the religionist, having accepted certain propositions by faith, cannot thereafter judge these propositions by evidence. One may bask at the warm fire of faith or choose to live in the bleak uncertainty of reason--but one cannot have both.”

MayReasonCertainReligionStrongFireTroubleJudgingSourceComfortEvidenceWeakWarmAcceptedUncertaintyAppropriatePropositionsBleakSource Of Happiness
Author:Robert A. Heinlein
Create image

“Happiness lies in being privileged to work hard for long hours in doing whatever you think is worth doing. One man may find happiness in supporting a wife and children. Another may find it in robbing banks. Still another may labor mightily for years in pursuing pure research with no discernible result. Note the individual and subjective nature of each case. No two are alike and there is no reason to expect them to be. Each man or woman must find for himself or herself that occupation in which hard work and long hours make him or her happy.”

ThinkingMenYearsMayChildrenLongStillsHardHappinessLyingHoursWifeHard WorkLaborOne ManPrivilegedFinding HappinessRobbingLong Hours
Book:To Sail Beyond the Sunset
Create image