Thoughts on being civilized. Quotes are Robert A. Heinlein's

[Pixcutter]

I had forgotten how Robert A. Heinlein saw living.  RAH was a Science Fiction author (and a grand master of the art) for many years.  But he was a staunch patriot, and would be appalled if he saw his country now.  I offer these few quotes as a beginning of a discussion of what we have been, and what we (not all of us, thank God) seem to becoming.  I only ask that you respond clearly and take the time to check for typos and spelling errors as a courtesy to the rest of us.

• An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.
• How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven.
• There comes a time in the life of every human when he or she must decide to risk "his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor" on an outcome dubious. Those who fail the challenge are merely overgrown children, can never be anything else.
• 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.
  
• Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors — and miss.
• In a mature society, "civil servant" is semantically equal to "civil master."
• Patriotism is not sentimental nonsense. Nor something dreamed up by demagogues. Patriotism is as necessary a part of man's evolutionary equipment as are his eyes, as useful to the race as eyes are to the individual.
• Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat.
• I usually read the obituaries first as there is always the happy chance that one of them will make my day.
• Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.

[tombogan03884]

 RAH was a philosopher in novelists clothing ,  I often reread Starship Troopers because while the basic story may be rather juvenile the concepts of "Moral and social responsibility" are well worth remembering. The same Ideas of such forgotten things as "Duty"," Honor", and "Personal responsibility" are found through out his works.

[fightingquaker13]

Heinlein could never quite decide if he was a libetarian or a facist/nationalist (the uniforms in star ship trooper are the directors acknowledgement of that fact, and damned funny to those of us who know and love his work). For reasons shocking to none, I chose to see him as a  libertatian. I got introduced to him in high school when my algebra teacher would let us write book reports on Heinlein to either get extra credit on a test or get out of detention. (I needed both). This wasn't frivolous either, as there is a lot of wisdom in his writings. I'm not the only one think so. One of our cadre in ROTC used to use star ship troopers metaphors to good effect, long before it became a movie.
FQ13

[m25operator]

Anything Heinlein, gets my vote, and does require reflection in our current times.

To America: You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. 

For FQ: I never learned from a man who agreed with me.

For Tab: Never insult anyone by accident.

For BO: No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority.

For TAB: They didn't want it good, they wanted it Wednesday.

For America: “A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.”

For America : “Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed.”

To all those bullies: “Never frighten a little man. He'll kill you.”

[fightingquaker13]

Every word true operator. Is there a book of his quotes, or do you just have a scary memory? I used to say to my students that everything you needed to know about international politics was written 2500 years ago in Thucydidys History of the Pelloponesian War. This thread has made me realize that about a third of what you need to know about being a man is in Heinlein.
FQ13

[Sponsor]

[DonWorsham]

Did Heinlein ever say or one of his characters ever say..."all I wanted from life was to love a good women and kill a bad man"

[tombogan03884]

Every word true operator. Is there a book of his quotes, or do you just have a scary memory? I used to say to my students that everything you needed to know about international politics was written 2500 years ago in Thucydidys History of the Pelloponesian War. This thread has made me realize that about a third of what you need to know about being a man is in Heinlein.
FQ13

I believe he published a book in the late 80' or early 90's  possibly his last, that was general musings on life's lessons.

[long762range]

Did Heinlein ever say or one of his characters ever say..."all I wanted from life was to love a good women and kill a bad man"

No.  Heinlein was a writer.  He didn't know any women.   

 


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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.

Lazarus Long in Time Enough For Love

 
 

[Solus]

Just started reading a new work of RAH.  For Us, The Living
It was written in 1939, I believe and not published until recently.  RAH did not do the final editing and work needed to get it published.  It became historically inaccurate with the attack on Pearl Harbor, but a history lesson was never RAH's reason for writing.

The writer of the introduction says it gives much insight into the philosophy of RAH.

I am enjoying it so far, so if you are a RAH fan, you might want to locate a copy of what might be his first work.  I found it on Amazon.

Good Reading and take care.