"History is never surprising—after it happens."

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

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More by Robert A. Heinlein

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

“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.”

“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

"Clare's essay was itself an attempt at popularity through essayistic journalism."

— John Birtwhistle

Music1946

#writing

"Philosophy is in history, and is never independent of historical discourse. But for the tacit symbolism of life it substitutes, in principle, a conscious symbolism; for a latent meaning, one that is m…"

— Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Philosophy1908–1961

#history

"There is no such thing as the universal ‘Man’ never has been, never will be, there is the worker and there is the one who exploits the worker and those who abet him."

— Elfriede Jelinek

Literature1946

#work

"I feel the hot winds of karma driving me. Nevertheless I remain here. My training was correct: I must not shrink from the clear white light, for if I do, I will once more re-enter the cycle of birth a…"

— Philip K. Dick

Literature1928–1982

#freedom