"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. Pfah!"

Robert A. Heinlein Literature See all quotes by Robert A. Heinlein →

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More by Robert A. Heinlein

“Clark just looked bored and contemptuous and said nothing, because Clark would not bother to interfere with Armageddon unless there was ten percent in it for him.”

“Matt, you are suffering from a disease of youth—you expect moral problems to have nice, neat, black-and-white answers.”

“Learning isn’t a means to an end; it is an end in itself.”

“I used to wonder what it was like to be rich. Now I am and it turns out to be mostly headaches.”

“He seeks order, not truth. Suppose truth defies order, will he accept it? Will you? I think not.”

“Is it not better to be in ignorance than to believe falsely?”

Resonant Thoughts

"I've been listening to a phrase, Internment Without Trial. And I keep thinking of the people that were murdered without trial. I'm not talking about the police, I'm not talking about the army. I'm tal…"

— Gerry Adams

Politics1948

#mind

"In regard to the Germans and foreigners, I esteem them no better than other people, nor any worse. It is not my nature, when I see a people borne down by the weight of their shackles-the oppression of…"

— Abraham Lincoln

Politics1744–1786

#life

"the wounded child inside many males is a boy who, when he first spoke his truths, was silenced by paternal sadism, by a patriarchal world that did not want him to claim his true feelings. The wounded …"

— bell hooks

Education1952–2021

#love

"The problem is, only a few people get to be scientists. You see the dilemma? Given the choice between a truth they can appreciate and a lie they can live, most people will take you-know-what."

— James K. Morrow

Literature1947

#truth