Robert A. Heinlein

“…the greatest danger to man in space was man himself.”

“I know where I came from—but where did all you zombies come from?I felt a headache coming on, but a headache powder is one thing I do not take. I did once—and you all went away.So I crawled into bed and whistled out the light.You aren’t really there at all. There isn’t anybody but me—Jane—here alone in the dark.I miss you dreadfully!”

“A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity.”

“I waited. Women talk when they want to. Or don't.”

“Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat.”

“The less respect an older person deserves the more certain he is to demand it from anyone younger.”

“If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for ... but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.”

“Good!” the creature echoed. “Doctor Nelson will be along in a minute. Feel like breakfast?”All symbols were in Smith’s vocabulary but he had trouble believing that he had heard rightly. He knew that he was food, but he did not “feel like” food. Nor had he any warning that he might be selected for such honor.”

“A desire not to butt into other people's business is at least eighty percent of all human wisdom.”

“In Wilson's scale of evaluations breakfast rated just after life itself and ahead of the chance of immortality.”

“One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.”

“Yes, sir, there are things to see and do on the French Riviera without spending money.”

“A woman is not property, and husbands who think otherwise are living in a dreamworld.”

“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.”

“When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere.”

“Faith strikes me as intellectual laziness.”

“The only religious opinion I feel sure of is this: self-awareness is not just a bunch of amino acids bumping together.”

“Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.”

“I don't see why human people make such a heavy trip out of sex. It isn't anything complex, it is simply the best thing in life, even better than food.”

“But one way or another competing and weeding takes place . . . or a race goes downhill.”