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Quote by Robert A. Heinlein

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Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein

Robert A. Heinlein was an American science fiction writer, hailed as a master in the field of science fiction. His works have had a profound impact on the development of science fiction literature, with classics such as 'Starship Troopers' and 'The Time Machine'. more

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“The profession of shaman has many advantages. It offers high status with a safe livelihood free of work in the dreary, sweaty sense. In most societies it offers legal privileges and immunities not granted to other men. But it is hard to see how a man who has been given a mandate from on High to spread tidings of joy to all mankind can be seriously interested in taking up a collection to pay his salary; it causes one to suspect that the shaman is on the moral level of any other con man. But it is a lovely work if you can stomach it.”

IfsMenHas BeensHardJoyReligionGivenCausesLevelsPayMoralMankindOffersSafeAdvantagePrivilegeSpreadProfessionLovelyGrantedCollectionsSuspectsStomachSalaryMandatesLivelihoodDrearyImmunityTidings
Book:Time Enough for Love
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“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
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“He should have known better because, early in his learnings under his brother Mahmoud, he had discovered that long human words (the longer the better) were easy, unmistakable, and rarely changed their meanings, but short words were slippery, unpredictable changing their meanings without any pattern. Or so he seemed to grok. Short human words were never like a short Martian word - such as grok which forever meant exactly the same thing. Short human words were like trying to lift water with a knife. And this had been a very short word.”

ShouldTryingHumansLongReligionEasyWaterKnownForeverChangedBrotherShould HavePatternsLiftsKnivesUnpredictableSlipperyMartiansShould Have KnownShort WordsShould Have Known Better
Author:Robert A. Heinlein
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“Possession of books denounced as heretical was made a criminal offense. Copies of such books were burned and destroyed. But in Upper Egypt, someone, possibly a monk from a nearby monastery of St Pachomius, took the banned books and hid them from destruction - in the jar where they remained buried for almost 1,600 years.”

YearsMadeBookReligionDestructionPossessionCriminalsDestroyedCopiesBuriedBurnedOffenseEgyptMonkJarsBannedMonasteriesBanned Books
Book:The Gnostic Gospels
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“Contemporary Christianity, diverse and complex as we find it, actually may show more unanimity than the Christian churches of the first and second centuries. For nearly all Christians since that time, Catholics, Protestants, or Orthodox, have shared three basic premises. First, they accept the canon of the New Testament; second, they confess the apostolic creed; and third, they affirm specific forms of church institution. But every one of these - the canon of Scripture, the creed, and the institutional structure - emerged in its present form only toward the end of the second century.”

FirstsMayEndsShowsChristianFormReligionThreeChurchAcceptingChristianityCenturyThirdsCatholicInstitutionsStructureComplexesScriptureContemporaryOrthodoxCreedsDiverseTestamentPremisesNew TestamentProtestantsChristian ChurchCanonApostolicUnanimity
Author:Elaine Pagels
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