Mark Twain vs. Robert A. Heinlein
Read 20 entries attributed to Mark Twain alongside 20 attributed to Robert A. Heinlein. Compare the wording and topic labels.
This page places 20 entries attributed to Mark Twain alongside 20 attributed to Robert A. Heinlein. Each selection is ordered by stored importance score. These are selections from QuoteLineage, not complete accounts of either author's work.
Topic labels present in both displayed selections: human nature, love, knowledge, humor, freedom, time, philosophy. Shared labels do not by themselves demonstrate agreement, disagreement, or influence between the authors.
Attributed to Mark Twain, entry #144: "Brief Biographical Sketch of George Washington", The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches (1867), ed. John Paul"
Attributed to Robert A. Heinlein, entry #1008: "Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy - in fact, t…"
Side-by-Side Comparison
Mark Twain
1835 – 1910
Mark Twain (1835) was an American writer and humorist, author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
"Brief Biographical Sketch of George Washington", The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches (1867), ed. John Paul"
#Aesthetics"I have seen Chinamen abused and maltreated in all the mean, cowardly ways possible to the invention of a degraded nature, but I never saw a policeman interfe…"
#Ethics"Barring that natural expression of villainy which we all have, the man looked honest enough."
#Aesthetics"Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre, but they are more deadly in the long run."
#Aesthetics"Tomorrow night I appear for the first time before a Boston audience"
#Human Nature"When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain."
#love"After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her."
#love"Ah, it was worth ten years of a man’s life to be dead then! Everything was pleasant. I was in a good neighbourhood, for all the dead people that lived near m…"
#Ethics"I'll risk forty dollars that he can outjump any frog in Calaveras county."
#Aesthetics"He was ignorant of the commonest accomplishments of youth. He could not even lie."
#Aesthetics"He is now fast rising from affluence to poverty."
#Aesthetics"Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest."
#Human Nature"No one doubts—certainly not I—that the mind exercises a powerful influence over the body. From the beginning of time, the sorcerer, the interpreter of dreams…"
#power"She had run down and down and down, and had at last reached a point where medicines no longer had any helpful effect upon her. I said I knew I could put her …"
#knowledge"The humorous story is told gravely; the teller does his best to conceal the fact that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it."
#humor": "A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval."
#humor"The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference between a mermaid and a seal."
"Whenever the human race assembles to a number exceeding four, it cannot stand free speech."
#freedom"None but an ass pays a compliment and asks a favor at the same time. There are many asses."
#time"It [the press] has scoffed at religion till it has made scoffing popular. It has defended official criminals, on party pretexts, until it has created a Unite…"
#PhilosophyRobert A. Heinlein
1907 – 1988
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction author, engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accuracy in his fiction and was thus a pioneer of the subgenre of hard science fiction. His published works, both fiction and non-fiction, express admiration for competence and emphasize the value of critical thinking.
"Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the…"
#love"Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."
#happiness"May you live as long as you wish and love as long as you live."
#life"“People tend to fall into three psychological types, all differently motivated. There is the type, motivated by economic factors, money...And there is the ty…"
#education"I really am a good listener because you never can tell when you will pick up something useful—and all in the world any woman has to do to be considered “char…"
#friendship"Luck is a bonus that follows careful planning—it’s never free."
#freedom"He gave up and went back to loafing, found that he could sleep all right in the afternoons but that the practice kept him awake at night."
#work"When you haven’t data, guessing is illogical."
#philosophy"Since when did a mathematician need any tools but his own head? Pythagoras had done well enough with a stick and a stretch of sand."
#humor"Hans had courage to burn. If he had been willing to knuckle under to the Nazis he would have stayed at Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. But Hans was a scientist. He…"
#truth"Don, have you been dealing with a booklegger?"
#books"“The trouble with you youngsters,” Joe said, “is that if you can’t understand a thing right off, you think it can’t be true. The trouble with your elders is,…"
#mind"Apparently she believes she is safe. Evil is essentially stupid, Joe; despite her brilliance, she believes what she wishes to believe. Or it may be that she …"
#death"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."
#gratitude"As Thorby learned to use his mind, he found that he liked to; he developed an insatiable appetite for the printed page."
#knowledge"Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty"
#truth"Pop, who maintained that a wise man could not be insulted, since truth could not insult and untruth was not worthy of notice."
#wisdom"The future is better than the past. Despite the crepehangers, romanticists, and anti-intellectuals, the world steadily grows better because the human mind, a…"
#time"Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat."
#humor"As for population, every major shortcoming of our native planet could be traced to one cause: too many people, not enough planet."
#Human Nature