"Good government grows out of the people; it cannot be handed to them."

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

React to this quote

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.”

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

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

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

Resonant Thoughts

"The barbed wire that encircled us like a wall did not fill us with real fear. In fact, we felt this was not a bad thing: we were entirely among ourselves. A small Jewish republic..."

— Elie Wiesel

Literature1928–2016

#politics

"If it's a flash it's been an awfully long flash. I've been around for 20 years in one of the largest media and political markets in the country, so I'd call it more of a slow burn."

— Jack Layton

Politics1950–2011

#politics

"I wish it was in my power to confirm General Sullivan's prediction of the 17th, but I cannot flatter my self with such an agreeable issue. I am sensible he is in common very sanguine, but his expectat…"

— Nathanael Greene

Military1742–1786

#time

"The government may be made up of clever, sensible people. But if they do not believe in basic human values, the more clever or shrewd they are the greater the tragedy they will create."

— Ai Weiwei

Art1957

#Human Nature