The quotations of

Robert A. Heinlein

American author and aeronautical engineer

1907–1988

34 quotes, most often on Morality, Life & Death and Laws. Part of the Writers collection.

A friend who offers help without asking for explanations is a treasure beyond price.
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985), Chapter 1 (p. 7)
- Friendship
You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don’t ever count on having both at once.
Time Enough for Love (1973)
- Freedom
- War & Peace
It seems to me that any law that is not enforced and can’t be enforced weakens all other laws.
Friday (1982), Chapter 23 (p. 241)
- Laws
I suspect that there are just two sorts of lawyers: those who spend their efforts making life easy for other people⁠—and parasites.
Friday (1982), Chapter 24 (p. 257)
- Clever Jabs
- Laws
The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed.
Revolt in 2100 (1953), postscript
- Thinking
I scrolled on down to the obituaries. I usually read the obituaries first as there is always the happy chance that one of them will make my day.
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985), Chapter 3 (p. 27)
- Comedy
But I did not explain to you the other insidious aspect of writing. There is no way to stop. Writers go on writing long after it becomes financially unnecessary…because it hurts less to write than it does not to write.
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985), Chapter 3 (p. 34)
- Writing
A rational anarchist believes that concepts, such as “state” and “society” and “government” have no existence save as physically exemplified in the acts of self-responsible individuals.
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966)
- Government
Logic is a way of saying that anything which didn’t happen yesterday won’t happen tomorrow.
Glory Road (1963)
- Thinking
The whole principle is wrong; it’s like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can’t eat steak.
On censorship, in The Man Who Sold the Moon (1950), p. 188
- Freedom
Wisdom is not additive; its maximum is that of the wisest man in a given group.
Glory Road (1963)
- Wisdom
Decency is not news; it is buried in the obituaries — but it is a force stronger than crime.
This I Believe: Our Noble, Essential Decency (1952)
- Journalism
- Virtue
You live and learn. Or you don’t live long.
Time Enough for Love (1973)
- Experience
Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat.
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985)
- Animals
It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion. And usually easier.
Time Enough for Love (1973)
- Courage
- Life & Death

More writers

All 29 writers

C. S. Lewis1898–1963151 quotes

Mark Twain1835–1910151 quotes

Dave Barryborn 1947100 quotes

Oscar Wilde1854–1900173 quotes

G. K. Chesterton1874–193694 quotes

Dr. Seuss1904–199112 quotes