18 Robert A. Heinlein Quotes on Human nature

Robert A. Heinlein quotes on human nature

4. You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity.

9. Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal.

11. The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed.

20. Listen, son. Most women are damn fools and children. But they've got more range then we've got. The brave ones are braver, the good ones are better - and the vile ones are viler, for that matter.

29. Correct morality can only be derived from what man is - not from what do-gooders and well-meaning aunt Nellies would like him to be.

38. Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please. Rules, laws - always for other fellow. A murky part of us, something we had before we came down out of trees, and failed to shuck when we stood up. Because not one of those people said: Please pass this so that I won't be able to so something I know I should stop. Nyet, tovarishchee, was always something they hated to see neighbors doing. Stop them for their own good

44. A brute kills for pleasure. A fool kills from hate.

54. All men are created unequal.

67. By the data to date, there is only one animal in the Galaxy dangerous to man - man himself. So he must supply his own indispensable competition. He has no enemy to help him.

81. Everybody lies about sex.

88. Human beings hardly ever learn from the experience of others. They learn; when they do, which isn't often, on their own, the hard way.

89. I don't trust a man who talks about ethics when he is picking my pocket. But if he is acting in his own self-interest and says so, I have usually been able to work out some way to do business with him.

106. Money is the sincerest of all flattery. Women love to be flattered. So do men.

109. Never appeal to a man's 'better nature.' He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage.

111. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.

126. Stupidity cannot be cured with money, or through education, or by legislation. Stupidity is not a sin, the victim can't help being stupid. But stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death, there is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity.

152. Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate - and quickly.

164. All normal human beings have soi-disant mixed-up glands. The race is divided into two parts: those who know this and those who do not.