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The Right To Figure Things Out For Yourself Is The Only True Freedom Everyone Shares. Go Use It.
-Robert A. Heinlein
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The Right To Figure

Robert A. Heinlein
...
The Right To Figure Things Out For Yourself Is The Only True Freedom Everyone Shares. Go Use It.

Understanding the Quote: "the right to figure things out for yourself is the only true..."

This quote by Robert A. Heinlein reflects deeply on the theme of use. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Use, Share, Figures, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Robert A. Heinlein interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Robert A. Heinlein

Robert A. Heinlein is celebrated for insightful thoughts on use and share. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Use
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Widows Are Far Better Than Brides. They Don't Tell, They Won't Yell, They Don't Swell, They Rarely Smell, And They're Grateful As Hell.
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A Committee Is A Life Form With Six Or More Legs And No Brain.
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Nursing Does Not Diminish The Beauty Of A Woman's Breasts; It Enhances Their Charm By Making Them Look Lived In And Happy.
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Audacity, Always Audacity - Soundest Principal Of Strategy.
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Was There Ever A Time When The Majority Was Right?
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All Societies Are Based On Rules To Protect Pregnant Women And Young Children. All Else Is Surplusage, Excrescence, Adornment, Luxury, Or Folly Which Can - And Must - Be Dumped In Emergency To Preserve This Prime Function. As Racial Survival Is The Only Universal Morality, No Other Basic Is Possible. Attempts To Formulate A "perfect Society" On Any Foundation Other Than "women And Children First!" Is Not Only Witless, It Is Automatically Genocidal. Nevertheless, Starry-eyed Idealists (all Of Them Male) Have Tried Endlessly - And No Doubt Will Keep Trying.
Children
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No Matter Where Or What, There Are Makers, Takers, And Fakers.
Fake
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One Man's 'magic' Is Another Man's Engineering. 'supernatural' Is A Null Word.
Men
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Always Listen To Experts. They'll Tell You What Can't Be Done, And Why. Then Do It.
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My Old Man Taught Me Two Things: 'mind Own Business' And 'always Cut Cards.'
Life
Cutting
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There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch." A Libertarian Movement Slogan - The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, 1907.
Moon
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Mistress
Daughters Can Spend Ten Percent More Than A Man Can Make In Any Usual Occupation. That’s A Law Of Nature, To Be Known Henceforth As ‘harshaw’s Law.
Daughter
Men
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Ninety Percent Of All Human Wisdom Is The Ability To Mind Your Own Business.
Wisdom
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Roman Matrons Used To Say To Their Sons: 'come Back With Your Shield Or On It.' Later On, This Custom Declined. So Did Rome... (but Not Before It Created An Empire That Changed The World -em).
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He's An Honest Politician--he Stays Bought.
Honest
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The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth - A 6 Foot Plot Above Them.
Feet
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Never Crowd Youngsters About Their Private Affairs - Sex Especially.
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Citizenship Is An Attitude, A State Of Mind, An Emotional Conviction That The Whole Is Greater Than The Part...and That The Part Should Be Humbly Proud To Sacrifice Itself That The Whole May Live.
Attitude
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Anything Free Costs Twice As Much In The Long Run Or Turns Out Worthless.
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It's Better To Copulate Than Not.
But, Do You Know, Once You Get Used To It's Rather Cute. I Mean, If A Girl Looks Alright To Start With, She Still Looks Alright With Her Head Smooth.
Cute
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A Touchstone To Determine The Actual Worth Of An "intellectual" - Find Out How He Feels About Astrology.
Determination
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How Anybody Expects A Man To Stay In Business With Every Two-bit Wowser In The Country Claiming A Veto Over What We Can Say And Can't Say And What We Can Show And What We Can't Show - It's Enough To Make You Throw Up. The Whole Principle Is Wrong; It's Like Demanding That Grown Men Live On Skim Milk Because The Baby Can't Eat Steak.
Country
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There Is No Conclusive Evidence Of Life After Death, But There Is No Evidence Of Any Sort Against It. Soon Enough You Will Know, So Why Fret About It?
Soon Enough
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Being Generous Is Inborn; Being Altruistic Is A Learned Perversity. No Resemblance --
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An Animal So Poor In Spirit That He Won't Even Fight On His Own Behalf Is Already An Evolutionary Dead End; The Best He Can Do For His Breed Is To Crawl Off And Die, And Not Pass On His Defective Genes.
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The Early Worm Deserves The Bird.
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Women And Cats Will Do As They Please, And Men And Dogs Should Relax And Get Used To The Idea.
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Do Not Confuse "duty" With What Other People Expect Of You; They Are Utterly Different. Duty Is A Debt You Owe To Yourself To Fulfill Obligations You Have Assumed Voluntarily. Paying That Debt Can Entail Anything From Years Of Patient Work To Instant Willingness To Die. Difficult It May Be, But The Reward Is Self-respect.
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It Seems To Me That Any Law That Is Not Enforced And Can't Be Enforced Weakens All Other Laws.
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The Country And Culture Commonly Known As "america" Had Had A Badly Split Personality All Through Its History. Its Overt Laws Were Almost Always Puritanical For A People Whose Covert Behavior Tended To Be Rabelaisian; Its Major Religions Were All Apollonian In Varying Degrees---its Religious Revivals Were Often Hysterical In A Fashion Almost Dionysian.
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In A Society In Which It Is A Moral Offense To Be Different From Your Neighbor Your Only Escape Is To Never Let Them Find Out.
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Cheops' Law: Nothing Ever Gets Built On Schedule Or Within Budget.
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Gentlemen, Let's Go Row!
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Learning . . . Is - Also An End In Itself.
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Since When Was An Emotional Argument Won By Logic?
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Butterflies Are Not Insects,' Captain John Sterling Said Soberly. 'they Are Self-propelled Flowers.
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Nothing Gives Life More Zest That Running For Your Life.
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Reason Is Poor Propaganda When Opposed By The Yammering, Unceasing Lies Of Shrewd And Evil And Self-serving Men.
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I Took Up Writing Because I Needed Money. And I Continued To Write Because It's Safer Than Stealing And Easier Than Working.
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There Are Two Ways Of Forming An Opinion. One Is The Scientific Method; The Other, The Scholastic. To The Scientific Mind, Experimental Proof Is All-important, And Theory Is Merely A Convenience In Description, To Be Junked When It No Longer Fits. To The Academic Mind, Authority Is Everything, And Facts Are Junked When They Do Not Fit Theory.
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At One Time Kings Were Anointed By Deity, So The Problem Was To See To It That Deity Chose The Right Candidate. In This Age The Myth Is "the Will Of The People" ... But The Problem Changes Only Superficially.
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Waking A Person Unnecessarily Should Not Be Considered A Capital Crime. For A First Offense, That Is.
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If You've Got The Truth You Can Demonstrate It. Talking Doesn't Prove It.
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Stupidity Is The Only Natural Capital Offense.
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Once There Was A Race, Quite Unlike The Human Race - Quite. I Have No Way Of Describing To You What They Looked Like Or How They Lived, But They Had One Characteristic You Can Understand: They Were Creative. The Creating And Enjoying Of Works Of Art Was Their Occupation And Their Reason For Being.
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In The Absence Of Clearly-defined Goals, We Become Strangely Loyal To Performing Daily Trivia Until Ultimately We Become Enslaved By It.
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More People Worry Themselves To Death Than Bleed To Death.
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It's Up To The Artist To Use Language That Can Be Understood, Not Hide It In Some Private Code. Most Of These Jokers Don't Even Want To Use Language You And I Know Or Can Learn . . . They Would Rather Sneer At Us And Be Smug, Because We 'fail' To See What They Are Driving At. If Indeed They Are Driving At Anything--obscurity Is Usually The Refuge Of Incompetence.
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Nothing Uses Up Alcohol Faster Than Political Argument.
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Secrecy Begets Tyranny.
Political
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Writing Is Not Necessarily Something To Be Ashamed Of, But Do It In Private And Wash Your Hands Afterwards.
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Beware Of Altruism. It Is Based On Self-deception, The Root Of All Evil.
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My Old Man Claimed That The More Complicated The Law The More Opportunity For Scoundrels.
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An Armed Society Is A Polite Society.
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Ayn Rand Is A Bloody Socialist Compared To Me.
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Bloody
Specialization Is For Insects.
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Revolution Is An Art That I Pursue Rather Than A Goal I Expect To Achieve. Nor Is This A Source Of Dismay; A Lost Cause Can Be As Spiritually Satisfying As A Victory.
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A Generation Which Ignores History Has No Past — And No Future.
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History
To Permit Irresponsible Authority Is To Sell Disaster.
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Like Every Living Thing Its Prime Characteristic Is A Blind, Unreasoned Instinct To Survive.
Blind
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Democracy Is A Poor System Of Government At Best; The Only Thing That Can Honestly Be Said In Its Favor Is That It Is Eight Times As Good As Any Other Method The Human Race Has Ever Tried.
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Marriage Is A Psychological Condition, Not A Civil Contract And A License. Once A Marriage Is Dead, It Is Dead, And It Begins To Stink Faster Than A Dead Fish.
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We Came Here For A Small, Informal Meeting. We Find You've Turned It Into A Circus. Well, If You're Going To Have A Circus, You've Got To Have Elephants.
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When The Citizens Of A Nation Will No Longer Volunteer To Defend It, Then It Is Probably Not Worth Saving. No Nation Has The Right To Survive With Conscript Troops, And In The Long Run, No Nation Ever Has.
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Long
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Goodness Without Wisdom Always Accomplishes Evil.
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Every Congressman, Every Senator Knows Precisely What Causes Inflation... But Can't, [won't] Support The Drastic Reforms To Stop It [repeal Of The Federal Reserve Act] Because It Could Cost Him His Job.
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Dad Claims That Library Science Is The Foundation Of All Sciences Just As Math Is The Key -- And We Will Survive Or Founder, Depending On How Well The Librarians Do Their Jobs. Librarians Didn't Look Glamorous To Me But Maybe Dad Had Hit On A Not Very Obvious Truth.
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Every Law That Was Ever Written Opened Up A New Way To Graft.
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Progress Is Made By Lazy Men Looking For Easier Ways To Do Things.
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There Is No Such Thing As 'social Gambling.' Either You Are There To Cut The Other Bloke's Heart Out And Eat It -- Or You're A Sucker. If You Don't Like This Choice -- Don't Gamble.
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Cutting
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A Fake Fortuneteller Can Be Tolerated. But An Authentic Soothsayer Should Be Shot On Sight. Cassandra Did Not Get Half The Kicking Around She Deserved.
Sight
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Kicking
Limiting The Freedom Of News 'just A Little Bit' Is In The Same Category With The Classic Example 'a Little Bit Pregnant.
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You Can Have Peace. Or You Can Have Freedom. Don't Ever Count On Having Both At Once.
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Anyone Who Clings To The Historically Untrue-and Thoroughly Immoral-doctrine That, 'violence Never Settles Anything' I Would Advise To Conjure The Ghosts Of Napoleon Bonaparte And 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. Breeds That Forget This Basic Truth Have Always Paid For It With Their Lives And Freedom.
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A Community Where Everyone Is A Ruthless Murderer, With Handy Access To Death-dealing Devices, Is A Very Polite Community.
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Don't Tell Me Violence Doesn't Solve Anything. Look At Carthage.
Looks
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By The Laws Of Statistics We Could Probably Approximate Just How Unlikely It Is That It Would Happen. But People Forget Especially Those Who Ought To Know Better, Such As Yourself That While The Laws Of Statistics Tell You How Unlikely A Particular Coincidence Is, They State Just As Firmly That Coincidences Do Happen.
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People
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But Goodness Alone Is Never Enough. A Hard, Cold Wisdom Is Required For Goodness To Accomplish Good. Goodness Without Wisdom Always Accomplishes Evil.
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Nothing Of Value Is Free. Even The Breath Of Life Is Purchased At Birth Only Through Gasping Effort And Pain.
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Pessimist By Policy, Optimist By Temperament- It Is Possible To Be Both. How? By Never Taking An Unnecessary Chance And By Minimizing The Risks You Can't Avoid. This Permits You To Play Out The Game Untroubled By The Certainty Of The Outcome.
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Be Wary Of Strong Drink. It Can Make You Shoot At Tax Collectors... And Miss.
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Death Is The Lot Of Us All, And The Only Way That The Human Race Has Ever Conquered Death Is By Treating It With Contempt. By Living Every Golden Minute As If One Had All Eternity.
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Race
Golden
There Are A Dozen Different Ways Of Delivering Destruction In Impersonal Wholesale, Via Ships Or Missiles Of One Sort Or Another, Catastrophes So Widespread, So Unselective That The War Is Over Because That Nation Or Planet Has Ceased To Exist. What We Do Is Entirely Different. We Make War As Personal As A Punch In The Nose. We Can Be Selective, Applying Precisely The Required Amount Of Pressure At The Specified Point At A Designated Time. We've Never Been Told To Go Down And Kill Or Capture All Left-handed Redheads In A Particular Area, But If They Tell Us To, We Can. We Will.
War
Down And
Way
Stinky Says Women Should Be Obscene But Not Heard.
Should
Heard
Obscene
The Average Bloke . . . Hates And Fears All Freedom, Not Only For Others But For Himself, And Stamps It Out Wherever Possible.
Hate
Average
Stamps
If Satan Should Ever Replace God He Would Find It Necessary To Assume The Attributes Of Divinity.
Divinity
Assuming
Satan
It Is Better To Copulate Than Never.
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A Family Reunion Is An Effective Form Of Birth Control.
Birth Control
Family Reunion
Genealogy
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Helpful
Problem
I Scrolled On Down To The Obituaries. I Usually Read The Obituaries First As There Is Always The Happy Chance That One Of Them Will Make My Day.
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Chance
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An Armed Man Need Not Fight.
Fighting
Gun
Men
A Monarch's Neck Should Always Have A Noose Around It. It Keeps Him Upright.
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Should
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No Intelligent Man Has Any Respect For An Unjust Law.
Intelligent
Men
Law
He Never Gave Up His Search For The Door Into Summer.
Summer
Hope
Ambition
Nowhere On Earth Was Sex So Vigorously Suppressed As In America--and Nowhere Else Was There Such A Deep Interest In It.
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America
Earth
In The Eighty Or Ninety Years I Have Given To This Subject, Trying To Trace Out The Meanderings Of Their Twisty Little Minds, The Only Thing That I Have Learned For Certain About Women Is That When A Gal Is Gonna, She's Gonna. All A Man Can Do Is Cooperate With The Inevitable.
Women
Years
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In Past History Popularly Elected Governments Have Been No Better And Sometimes Far Worse Than Overt Tyrannies.
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Government
Sometimes
People Who Are Busy And Happy Don't Write Diaries; They Are Too Busy Living.
Writing
People
Diaries
Of All The Strange 'crimes' That Human Beings Have Legislated Out Of Nothing, 'blasphemy' Is The Most Amazing -- With 'obscenity' And 'indecent Exposure' Fighting It Out For Second And Third Place.
Fighting
Religion
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Who Is More Real? Homer Or Ulysses? Shakespeare Or Hamlet? Burroughs Or Tarzan?
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Writing
Ulysses
I Had Taken A Partner Once Before—but, Damnation, No Matter How Many Times You Get Your Fingers Burned, You Have To Trust People. Otherwise You Are A Hermit In A Cave, Sleeping With One Eye Open.
Taken
Sleep
Eye
Any Priest Or Shaman Must Be Presumed Guilty Until Proved Innocent.
Guilty
Innocent
Priests
Hate Always Sells Well, But For Repeat Trade And The Long Pull Happiness Is Sounder Merchandise.
Hate
Long
Hatred
Random Chance Was Not A Sufficient Explanation Of The Universe---in Fact, Random Chance Was Not Sufficient To Explain Random Chance; The Pot Could Not Hold Itself.
Random Chance
Facts
Pot
Love Your Country, But Never Trust Its Government.
Country
Love You
Government
Democracy's Worst Fault Is That Its Leaders Are Likely To Reflect The Faults And Virtues Of Their Constituents.
Leader
Democracy
Faults
It Is Said That God Notes Each Sparrow That Falls. And So He Does. But The Proper Closest Statement Of It That Can Be Made In English Is That God Cannot Avoid Noting The Sparrow Because The Sparrow Is God. And When A Cat Stalks A Sparrow Both Of Them Are God, Carrying Out God's Thoughts.
God
Fall
Cat
I'm Not Trying To Frighten You, But Only A Fool Makes Predictions Based On Ignorance; I Am Not That Sort Of Fool.
Ignorance
Trying
Fool
Magic Is Not Science, It Is A Collection Of Ways To Do Things Ways That Work But Often We Don't Know Why.
Magic
Way
Collections
Rarest Of All Is The Man Who Can And Does Reason At All Times, Quickly, Accurately, Inclusively, Despite Hope Or Fear Or Bodily Distress, Without Egocentric Bias Or Thalmic Disturbance, With Correct Memory, With Clear Distinction Between Fact, Assumption, And Non-fact.
Motivational
Memories
Men
Learning Isn't A Means To An End; It Is An End In Itself.
Learning
Mean
Experience
Logic Is A Feeble Reed, Friend. "logic" Proved That Airplanes Can't Fly And That H-bombs Won't Work And That Stones Don't Fall Out Of The Sky. Logic Is A Way Of Saying That Anything Which Didn't Happen Yesterday Won't Happen Tomorrow.
Fall
Airplane
Sky
Money Problems Can Always Be Solved By A Man Not Frightened By Them.
Money
Men
Problem
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.
Freedom
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Being Free
"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" ... "but That's Not All People Laugh At." "isn't It? Perhaps I Don't Grok All Its Fullness Yet. But Find Me Something That Really Makes You Laugh Sweetheart... A Joke, Or Anything Else- But Something That Gave You A A Real Belly Laugh, Not A Smile. Then We'll See If There Isn't A Wrongness Wasn't There." He Thought. "i Grok When Apes Learn To Laugh, They'll Be People."
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Real
People
Darling, A True Lady Takes Off Her Dignity With Her Clothes And Does Her Whorish Best. At Other Times You Can Be As Modest And Dignified As Your Persona Requires.
Sex
Clothes
Doe
Being Privileged To Work Hard For Long Hours At Something You Think Is Worth Doing Is The Best Kind Of Play.
Hard Work
Thinking
Play
Certainly The Game Is Rigged. Don't Let That Stop You; If You Don't Bet You Can't Win.
Life And Love
Winning
Games
Animals Can Be Driven Crazy By Placing Too Many In Too Small A Pen. Homo Sapiens Is The Only Animal That Voluntarily Does This To Himself.
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Animal
Doe
If Tempted By Something That Feels 'altruistic,' Examine Your Motives And Root Out That Self-deception. Then, If You Still Want To Do It, Wallow In It!
Roots
Self
Deception
Everything Is Theoretically Impossible, Until It Is Done.
Science
Impossible Things
Done
There Has Grown Up In The Minds Of Certain Groups In This Country The Notion That Because A Man Or Corporation Has Made A Profit Out Of The Public For A Number Of Years, The Government And The Courts Are Charged With The Duty Of Guaranteeing Such Profit In The Future, Even In The Face Of Changing Circumstances And Contrary Public Interest. This Strange Doctrine Is Not Supported By Statute Nor Common Law. Neither Individuals Nor Corporations Have Any Right To Come Into Court And Ask That The Clock Of History Be Stopped, Or Turned Back...
Country
Men
Law
The United States Has Become A Place Where Entertainers And Professional Athletes Are Mistaken For People Of Importance.
Athlete
People
United States
All My Enemies Are Self-appointed.
Self
Enemy
Never Crowd Youngsters About Their Private Affairs - Sex Especially. When They Are Growing Up, They Are Nerve Ends All Over, And Resent (quite Properly) Any Invasion Of Their Privacy. Oh, Sure, They'll Make Mistakes - But That's Their Business, Not Yours. (you Made Your Own Mistakes, Did You Not?)
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Business
Growing Up
People Usually Believe Anything That They Are Told Early And Often.
Believe
People
Humans Hardly Ever Learn From The Experience Of Others. They Learn - When They Do, Which Isn't Often - On Their Own, The Hard Way.
Learning
Creativity
Experience
From My Point Of View, A Great Deal Of Openly Expressed Piety Is Insufferable Conceit.
Views
Conceit
Point Of View
Each Generation Thinks It Invented Sex; Each Generation Is Totally Mistaken. Anything Along That Line Today Was Commonplace Both In Pompeii And In Victorian England; The Differences Lie Only In The Degree Of Coverup - If Any.
Sex
Lying
Thinking
The Commonest Weakness Of Our Race Is Our Ability To Rationalize Our Most Selfish Purposes.
Selfish
Race
Weakness
Death Is An Old Friend; I Know Him Well. I Lived With Him, Ate With Him, Slept With Him; To Meet Him Again Does Not Frighten Me Death Is As Necessary As Birth, As Happy In Its Own Way.
Old Friends
Doe
Way
But Space Travel Can't Ease The Pressure On A Planet Grown Too Crowded Not Even With Today's Ships And Probably Not With Any Future Ships-because Stupid People Won't Leave The Slopes Of Their Home Volcano Even When It Starts To Smoke And Rumble. What Space Travel Does Do Is Drain Off The Best Brains: Those Smart Enough To See A Catastrophe Before It Happens, And With The Guts To Pay The Price-abandon Home, Wealth, Friends, Relatives, Everything-and Go. That's A Tiny Fraction Of One Percent. But That's Enough.
Smart
Stupid
Home
I'm Afraid Of Coaching, Of Writer's Classes, Of Writer's Magazines, Of Books On How To Write. They Give Me Centipede Trouble - You Know The Yarn About The Centipede Who Was Asked How He Managed All His Feet? He Tried To Answer, Stopped To Think About It, And Was Never Able To Walk Another Step.
Book
Writing
Thinking
People Simplify 'apollonian' Into 'mild', And 'calm', And 'cool'. But 'apollonian' And 'dionysian' Are Two Sides Of One Coin--a Nun Kneeling In Her Cell, Holding Perfectly Still, Can Be In Ecstacy More Frenzied Than Any Priestess Of Pan Priapus Celebrating The Vernal Equinox.
Cells
Two Sides
People
If Possible, Leave Room For Your Enemy To Become Your Friend.
Enemy
Rooms
Ifs
There Are Things Which Cannot Be Taught In Ten Easy Lessons, Nor Popularized For The Masses; They Take Years Of Skull Sweat.
Years
Sweat
Skulls
The Golden Sunshine Of Italy Congealed Into Tears. Here's To Alcoholic Brotherhood ... Much More Suited To The Frail Human Soul, If Any, Than Any Other Sort.
Sunshine
Community
Soul
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.
Travel
Space
Far Away
What We Think Of As 'physical Beauty' Is Almost Certainly A Tag For A Complex Of Useful Survival Characteristics. Smartness - Intelligence - Among Them.
Thinking
Survival
Tag
Specialisation Is For Insects!
Insects
Money Is A Powerful Aphrodisiac But Flowers Work Almost As Well.
Powerful
Flower
Aphrodisiac
When Faced With A Problem You Do Not Understand, Do Any Part Of It You Do Understand, Then Look At It Again.
Mistress
Looks
Problem
Decency Is Not News; It Is Buried In The Obituaries - But It Is A Force Stronger Than Crime.
Success
Stronger
News
Television Leaves No External Scars.
Television
Scar
Democracy Can't Work. Mathematicians, Peasants, And Animals, That's All There Is - So Democracy, A Theory Based On The Assumption That Mathematicians And Peasants Are Equal, Can Never Work. Wisdom Is Not Additive; Its Maximum Is That Of The Wisest Man In A Given Group.
Animal
Men
Wisest Man
First You Must Learn To Control Your Self. The Rest Follows. Blessed Is He Who Knows Himself And Commands Himself, For The World Is His And Love And Happiness And Peace Walk With Him Wherever He Goes.
Love
Happiness
Spiritual
Responsibility Cannot Be Shared.
Responsibility
I Believe In - I Am Proud To Belong To - The United States.
Believe
Proud
United States
You Obviously Don't Know What An Old Man Of The Sea Great Wealth Is. It Is Not A Fat Purse And Time To Spend It. Its Owner Finds Himself Beset On Every Side, At Every Hour, Wherever He Goes, By Persistent Pleaders, Like Beggars In Bombay, Each Demanding That He Invest Or Give Away Part Of His Wealth. He Becomes Suspicious Of Honest Friendship--indeed Honest Friendship Is Rarely Offered Him; Those Who Could Have Been His Friends Are Too Fastidious To Be Jostled By Beggars, Too Proud To Risk Being Mistaken For One.
Men
Sea
Giving
To Assess The Intelligence Of A Committee, Divide The Iq Of Its Stupidest Member By The Number Of Members.
Numbers
Members
Stupidest
Secrecy Is The Beginning Of Tyranny
Trust
Secrecy
Tyranny
I Believe That Almost All Politicians Are Honest. For Every Bribed Alderman There Are Hundreds Of Politicians, Low Paid Or Not Paid At All, Doing Their Level Best Without Thanks Or Glory To Make Our System Work. If This Were Not True, We Would Never Have Gotten Past The Thirteen Colonies.
Believe
Past
Levels
You Do Not Truly Own Anything That You Can't Carry In Both Arms At A Dead Run
Running
Arms
Some People Insist That "mediocre" Is Better Than "best." They Delight In Clipping Wings Because They Themselves Can't Fly. They Despise Brains Because They Have None.
Wings
People
Brain
There Is No Way That Writers Can Be Tamed And Rendered Civilized. Or Even Cured.
Way
Civilized
Tamed
Never Pick Up A Stray Kitten . . . Unless You've Already Made Up Your Mind To Be Owned By It.
Mind
Kitten
Made
Physicians Had Gone To Their Graves Calling Pasteur A Liar, A Fool, Or Worse—without Examining Evidence Which Their “common Sense” Told Them Was Impossible.
Liars
Common Sense
Gone
How You Behave Toward Cats Here Below Determines Your Status In Heaven.
Cat
Heaven
Dignity
My Vocal Cords Lived Their Own Life, Wild And Free.
Wild And Free
Vocal Cords
Vocal
Stupidity Cannot Be Cured With Money, Or Through Education, Or By Legislation.
Stupidity
Legislation
Time Is Your Total Capital, And The Minutes Of Your Life Are Painfully Few.
Life
Minutes
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.
Doubt
May
Want
Civilians Are Like Beans; You Buy 'em As Needed For Any Job Which Merely Requires Skill And Savvy. But You Can't Buy Fighting Spirit.
Jobs
Fighting
Skills
Take Sex Away From People. Make It Forbidden, Evil. Limit It To Ritualistic Breeding. Force It To Back Up Into Suppressed Sadism. Then Hand The People A Scapegoat To Hate. Let Them Kill A Scapegoat Occasionally For Cathartic Release. The Mechanism Is Ages Old. Tyrants Used It Centuries Before The Word "psychology" Was Ever Invented. It Works, Too.
Sex
Hate
Hands
Anyone Who Can Worship A Trinity And Insist That His Religion Is A Monotheism Can Believe Anything.
Believe
Religion
Worship
Between Being 'right' And Being Kind, I Know Which Way I Vote.
Way
Be Kind
Vote
Peace Is An Extension Of War By Political Means. Plenty Of Elbow-room Is Pleasanter -- And Much Safer.
Peace
War
Mean
A "critic" Is A Man Who Creates Nothing.
Men
Unbiased
Critics
Small Change Can Often Be Found Under Seat Cushions.
Small Changes
Often Is
Found
To Stay Young Requires Unceasing Cultivation Of The Ability To Unlearn Old Falsehoods.
Learning
Libertarian
Young
Thou Art God, I Am God. All That Groks Is God.
Art
There Is No Such Thing As Luck; There Is Only Adequate Or Inadequate Preparation To Cope With A Statistical Universe.
Badass
Preparation
Luck
It Would Take Centuries And He Must Grow And Grow And Grow, But He Was In No Hurry--he Grokked That Eternity And The Ever-beautifully-changing Now Were Identical.
Eternity
Century
Grows
The Marks Won't Listen If It's Free.
Mark
Ifs
It's A Man's Business To Be What He Is, And To Be It In Style.
Men
Style
One Could Write A History Of Science In Reverse By Assembling The Solemn Pronouncements Of Highest Authority About What Could Not Be Done And Could Never Happen.
Writing
Done
Authority
To Get Anywhere, Or Even To Live A Long Time, A Man Has To Guess, And Guess Right, Over And Over Again, Without Enough Data For A Logical Answer.
Time
Men
Data
Never Own More Than You Can Carry In Both Hands At A Dead Run.
Running
Hands
Oh, You Have To Charge 'em, Jubal. The Marks Won't Pay Attention If It's Free.
Attention
Ems
Pay
There Is No Way That Writers Can Be Tamed And Rendered Civilized Or Even Cured. The Only Solution Known To Science Is To Provide The Patient With An Isolation Room, Where He Can Endure The Acute Stages In Private And Where Food Can Be Poked In To Him With A Stick.
Writing
Way
Rooms
A Boy Who Gets A C- In 'appreciation Of Television' Can't Be All Bad.
Appreciation
Boys
Television
My Folks Tried To Make A Preacher Of Me And Missed By A Narrow Margin… I Would Have Made A Good One If I Hadn’t Fallen Into The Fatal Folly Of Reading Anything I Could Lay Hands On. With Just A Touch More Self Confidence And A Liberal Helping Of Ignorance I Could Have Been A Famous Evangelist.
Reading
Ignorance
Self Confidence
When The Need Arises - And It Does - You Must Be Able To Shoot Your Own Dog. Don't Farm It Out — That Doesn't Make It Nicer, It Makes It Worse.
Dog
Doe
Needs
The Saddest Thing About Ephemerals Was That Their Little Lives Rarely Held Time Enough For Love.
Love
Life
Littles
A Woman Is Not Property, And Husbands Who Think Otherwise Are Living In A Dreamworld.
Marriage
Husband
Thinking
The Best Things In History Are Accomplished By People Who Get Tired Of Being Shoved Around.
Tired
People
Accomplished
Sense Is Never Common.
Common
By Cultivating The Beautiful We Scatter The Seeds Of Heavenly Flowers, As By Doing Good We Cultivate Those That Belong To Humanity.
Beauty
Beautiful
Uplifting
When Railroading Time Comes You Can Railroad—but Not Before.
Railroads
Man Is Not A Rational Animal, He Is A Rationalizing Animal.
Animal
Men
Rational
Brainpower Is The Scarcest Commodity And The Only One Of Real Value.
Real
Commodity
Real Value
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