Robert A. Heinlein citations

Page 4

“Il est plus facile de soulever mille hommes en s'adressant à leurs préjugés que d'en convaincre un seul à l'aide de la logique.”

“Je commençai à entrevoir que la base de toute tyrannie n'est pas tant la force que le secret, la dissimulation, la censure. Lorsqu'un gouvernement — ou une Église — dit à ses sujets : « Il ne faut pas lire ceci, il ne faut pas voir cela, il est interdit de savoir telle chose », il en résulte inévitablement une tyrannie, quels qu'aient été les mobiles primitifs. Il faut bien peu de force pour contrôler un homme dont l'esprit est ainsi déformé. En revanche, nulle violence ne peut venir à bout d'un esprit libre, ni la torture, ni les bombes à fission, rien… on ne peut pas soumettre un homme libre. On ne peut que le tuer.”

“Si la parole d'un homme n'est pas une garantie suffisante, sa signature ne vaudra pas davantage”

“Les femmes et les chats ne feront que ce qui leur plaît, et les hommes et les chiens doivent se détendre et s'habituer à cette idée..”

“When one teaches, two learn.”

“One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.”

“Delusions are often functional. A mother's opinions about her children's beauty, intelligence, goodness, et cetera ad nauseam, keep her from drowning them at birth.”

“Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor.”

“Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.”

“Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate — and quickly.”

“Belief gets in the way of learning.”

“Yield to temptation… it may not pass your way again!”

“Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors — and miss.”

“Liberty is never unalienable; it must be redeemed regularly with the blood of patriots or it always vanishes. Of all the so-called natural human rights that have ever been invented, liberty is least likely to be cheap and is never free of cost.”

“Men rarely if ever dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.”

“Thinking doesn't pay. Just makes you discontented with what you see around you.”

“If you've got the truth you can demonstrate it. Talking doesn't prove it.”

“But goodness alone is never enough. A hard, cold wisdom is required for goodness to accomplish good. Goodness without wisdom always accomplishes evil.”

“I never do anything I don't want to do. Nor does anyone, but in my case I am always aware of it.”

“No woman ever ages beyond eighteen in her heart.”

“Some people insist that “mediocre” is better than “best.” They delight in clipping wings because they themselves can’t fly. They despise brains because they have none. Pfah!”

“Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best, he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear his shoes, bathe, and not make messes in the house.”

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

“The more you love, the more you can love--and the more intensely you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love. If a person had time enough, he could love all of that majority who are decent and just.”

“You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.”

“There is no safety this side of the grave”

“Goodness without wisdom always accomplishes evil.”

“I know why we laugh. We laugh because it hurts, and it's the only thing to make it stop hurting.”

“My dear, I used to think I was serving humanity… and I pleasured in the thought. Then I discovered that humanity does not want to be served; on the contrary it resents any attempt to serve it. So now I do what pleases myself.”

“Geniuses and supergeniuses always make their own rules on sex as on everything else; they do not accept the monkey customs of their lessers.”

“It is impossible for anyone to be responsible for another person's behavior. The most you or any leader can do is to encourage each one to be responsible for himself.”

“The first principle of freedom is the right to go to hell in your own handbasket.”

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