Heinlein quotes

• Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as “bad luck”.
• Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.
• An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.
• Political tags – such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth – are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.
• A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
• There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.
• Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done, and why. Then do it.
• There are no dangerous weapons; there are only dangerous men.
• Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.
• Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor.
• A generation which ignores history has no past — and no future.
• You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.
• At least once every human should have to run for his life, to teach him that milk does not come from supermarkets, that safety does not come from policemen, that ‘news’ is not something that happens to other people. He might learn how his ancestors lived and that he himself is no different–in the crunch his life depends on his agility, alertness, and personal resourcefulness.
• Cheops’ Law: Nothing ever gets built on schedule or within budget.
• Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed.
• No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority.