“Precedent is merely the assumption that somebody else, in the past with less information, nevertheless knows better than the man on the spot.”
Source: Space Cadet (1948), Chapter 15 “Pie With a Fork”, p. 180
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Robert A. Heinlein 557
American science fiction author 1907–1988Related quotes

Vijay Govindarajan, Chris Trimble (2013), The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge. p. 18

Variant: Never try to be better than someone else. Learn from others, and try to be the best you can be. Success is the by-product of that preparation.

“Don't you hate it when somebody knows you better than you know yourself?”
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“Every man in the world is better than someone else and not as good as someone else.”
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Versus (1949), Possessions are Nine Points of Conversation
Variant: Some people, and it doesn't matter whether they are paupers or millionaires,
Think that anything they have is the best in the world just because it is theirs.

Variant: People see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is and the future less resolved than it’ll be.

“We're going to fight to the end. But it's better if you fight to somebody else's end.”
Volume 2, Ch. 2
Fiction, The Book of the Short Sun (1999–2001)