Robert A. Heinlein idézet

oldal 19

„Ne hozd hátrányos helyzetbe gyermekeid azzal, hogy megkönnyíted az életüket.”

„A prűd egy olyan személy, aki azt gondolja, hogy a saját illendőségi szabályai természetes törvények.”

„Lehet béke és lehet szabadság. De soha ne számolj azzal, hogy mindkettő egyszerre lessz.”

„Nincs rosszabb zsarnokság, mint arra kényszeríteni az embert, hogy fizessen valamiért, amiért nem akar, pusztán azért, mert úgy gondoljuk, hogy az jó lenne a számára.”

„A szerelem az az állapot, amelyben egy másik ember boldogsága elengedhetetlen a saját boldogságod számára.”

„Soha ne próbálj meg egy disznót énekelni tanítani; ez csak időpocsékolás, és a disznót is idegesíti.”

„Olyan feltételeket tulajdonítottál a gazemberségnek, amelyek egyszerűen az ostobaságból fakadnak.”

„Soha ne próbálj meg túlszárnyalni egy macskát.”

„A bűn csak abban rejlik, hogy szükségtelenül megbántunk másokat. Minden más "bűn" kitalált ostobaság. Saját magadat bántani nem bűn - csak ostobaság.”

“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 than is a riot.”

“Before a revolution can take place, the population must lose faith in both the police and the courts.”

“Brainpower is the scarcest commodity and the only one of real value. Any human organization can be rendered useless, impotent, a danger to itself, by selectively removing its best minds while carefully leaving the stupid ones in place.”

“My mistake. My inexcusable mistake, as a con man never stops being a con man; he can’t. But I suffered from a will to believe, a defect of character that I thought I had rooted out. I was mistaken.”

“Good stories are rarely true.”

“I sometimes think that my own weakness lies in not realizing the full depths of the weakness and stupidity of men. As a reasonable creature myself I seem to have an unfortunate tendency to expect others unlike myself to be reasonable.”

“Why stay in Chicago; what did the town have to justify its existence? One decent boulevard, one decent suburb to the north, priced for the rich, two universities and a lake. As for the rest, endless miles of depressing, dirty streets. The town was one big stockyard.”

“It was fairly evident that at least 90 per cent of all magic, probably more, was balderdash and sheer mystification.”

“It may possibly be urged the shape of a culture—its mores, evaluations, family organizations, eating habits, living patterns, pedagogical methods, institutions, forms of government, and so forth—arise from the economic necessities of its technology.”

“We must make the fee contingent on results.”

“We are all free—to walk our appointed paths. Just as a stone is free to fall when you toss it into the air. No one is free in the abstract meaning you give the word.”

“The concept of change baffled them.”

“We have everything for a still; I stocked the items to build one if a war came along—not just for us but because liquor is money in any primitive society.”

“You know that color does not matter to me. I want to know other things about a man. Is his word good? Does he meet his obligations? Does he do honest work? Is he brave? Will he stand up and be counted?”

“It is impossible for anyone to be responsible for another person’s behavior. I spoke of myself as ‘responsible’ for this group, that was verbal shorthand. The most I can do—or you, or any leader—is to encourage each one to be responsible for himself.”

“No government has yet been able to repeal natural laws, though they keep trying.”