
“Government! Three fourths parasitic and the other fourth Stupid fumbling.”
Source: Stranger in a Strange Land
Stranger in a Strange Land is a 1961 science fiction novel by American author Robert A. Heinlein. It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who comes to Earth in early adulthood after being born on the planet Mars and raised by Martians, and explores his interaction with and eventual transformation of Terran culture.
“Government! Three fourths parasitic and the other fourth Stupid fumbling.”
Source: Stranger in a Strange Land
“A desire not to butt into other people's business is at least eighty percent of all human wisdom.”
Source: Stranger in a Strange Land
“Thinking doesn't pay. Just makes you discontented with what you see around you.”
Source: Stranger in a Strange Land
“He's as weird as snake's suspenders but sweet as a stolen kiss, too.”
Source: Stranger in a Strange Land
"Jubal Harshaw" in the first edition (1961); this is another line not in the "Uncut" edition of 1991 based on his original manuscripts, because this was one of the lines that Heinlein added, rather than trimmed down, during the editing process of the first edition.
Stranger in a Strange Land (1961; 1991)