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American Sci-Fi/Fantasy writer, libertarian, screenwriter, essayist and commentator. (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988)
Bibliography....
Never try to outstubborn a cat
- Time Enough For Love
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.
- Time Enough For Love
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
To get anywhere, or even live a long time, a man has to guess, and guess right, over and over again, without enough data for a logical answer.
- on chance
An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.
- on gun control
Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
- men & women
The universe never did make sense. I suspect that it was built on a government contract.
- the universe
.... if you are looking for shorter hours and longer vacations and early retirement, you are in the wrong job. Perhaps you need to take up bank robbing. Or geeking in a sideshow. Or even politics.
- happiness
Most people who sneer at technology would starve to death if the engineering infrastructure were removed.
- technology
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
- The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.
- history
No matter where or what, there are makers, takers, and fakers.
- people
Learning isn't a means to an end; it is an end in itself.
- learning
Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it
- professionalism
Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.
- progress
The greatest productive force is human selfishness.
- selfishness
When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, - not anything - you can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.
- If This Goes On, Revolt In 2100
Those who cling to the untrue doctrine that violence never settles anything would be advised to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and of the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk, and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Nations and peoples who forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms.
- violence
Bibliography....
Never try to outstubborn a cat
- Time Enough For Love
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.
- Time Enough For Love
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
To get anywhere, or even live a long time, a man has to guess, and guess right, over and over again, without enough data for a logical answer.
- on chance
An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.
- on gun control
Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
- men & women
The universe never did make sense. I suspect that it was built on a government contract.
- the universe
.... if you are looking for shorter hours and longer vacations and early retirement, you are in the wrong job. Perhaps you need to take up bank robbing. Or geeking in a sideshow. Or even politics.
- happiness
Most people who sneer at technology would starve to death if the engineering infrastructure were removed.
- technology
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
- The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.
- history
No matter where or what, there are makers, takers, and fakers.
- people
Learning isn't a means to an end; it is an end in itself.
- learning
Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it
- professionalism
Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.
- progress
The greatest productive force is human selfishness.
- selfishness
When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, - not anything - you can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.
- If This Goes On, Revolt In 2100
Those who cling to the untrue doctrine that violence never settles anything would be advised to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and of the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk, and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Nations and peoples who forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms.
- violence
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