Robert A Heinlein was a science fiction author whose books were a part of that halcyon era of sci fi writing, when everyone was obsessed with aliens and space travel, when we all worried about meeting a little green man, or bumping into a smooth silver cylindrical object that hosted beings from another planet planning on world domination.
Born on July 7th 1907 in Butler Missouri, Robert grew up fascinated by astronomy after witnessing Halley’s comet passing the Earth in 1910 and reckoned he’d read every single piece of science fiction literature he could lay his hands on by the time he was 16.
Heinlein wrote almost 100 stories during his lifetime including 32 novels, 59 short stories and 16 collections that were published and a couple that were published posthumously. Probably best known for his novels Starship Troopers, The Puppet Masters, and Stranger in a Strange Land here are 10 Out of the World Quotes from Robert A Heinlein.
“Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”
“I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.”
“A prude is a person who thinks that his own rules of propriety are natural laws.”
“You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don’t ever count on having both at once.”
“Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.”
“I’ve found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts so much.. because it’s the only thing that’ll make it stop hurting.”
“Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other “sins” are invented nonsense.”
“There are no dangerous weapons; there are only dangerous men.”
“A generation which ignores history has no past — and no future.”
“Take sides! Always take sides! You will sometimes be wrong – but the man who refuses to take sides must always be wrong.”
Robert died on May the 8th 1988 in his sleep from Emphysema, right up until his death he was writing and he remained a huge supporter of space exploration and space technology which he said was benefitting the elderly and infirm as spin offs from this research would often become used in groundbreaking treatments for disease; including a carotid bypass of which Heinlein himself was on of the first recipients.
A fascinating man in both his life and his literature, prolific and well loved we have included links to his bibliographies below. Just in case you fancied a bit of an escape from the world we live in.
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