Saturday, February 16, 2013

Notes From Wise People In The Past


I recently ran across these on www.goodreads.com... I read all of Heinlein's books I could find when I was a kid...

These quotations seem pretty good advice and insightful observations on life, mainly from an American perspective... I guess he helped shaped/confirm my view of the world as I grew up and went wandering about... The following are but a sample... I am finding the quotations of those who went before a helpful guide as I'm adjusting to this new phase of life. Once I get things understood and working fairly well-they/I change... That means adjusting myself and working to understand WTF is happening and how is it different... Those who went before dropped notes in bottles for us/me to find... Once I adjust to this new format, I'll add some comments of my own in response... Why-? Because I share and seek response from those passing by. I'm going to work at avoiding politics until we're past this "Lost Decade of Uncertainty, 2007-20017". There is No Free Lunch but some will get rich promising one and others will find ways to profit by accommodating changes while seeking special favors for themselves. Bribing people with their own money has never been so easy or have so many been so gullible.

"Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."
— Robert A. Heinlein (Stranger in a Strange Land)

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
— Robert A. Heinlein

"I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do."
— Robert A. Heinlein

"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch."

— Robert A. Heinlein (The Moon is a Harsh Mistress)

"There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him."
— Robert A. Heinlein (The Moon is a Harsh Mistress)

"Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.
But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please—this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time—and squawk for more!
So learn to say No—and to be rude about it when necessary. Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you. (This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)"

— Robert A. Heinlein (Time Enough for Love)

"Whenever women have insisted on absolute equality with men, they have invariably wound up with the dirty end of the stick. What they are and what they can do makes them superior to men, and their proper tactic is to demand special privileges, all the traffic will bear. They should never settle merely for equality. For women, "equality" is a disaster."
— Robert A. Heinlein

"An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life."
— Robert A. Heinlein (Beyond This Horizon)

"At least once every human should have to run for his life, to teach him that milk does not come from supermarkets, that safety does not come from policemen, that 'news' is not something that happens to other people. He might learn how his ancestors lived and that he himself is no different--in the crunch his life depends on his agility, alertness, and personal resourcefulness."
— Robert A. Heinlein

"The first principle of freedom is the right to go to hell in your own handbasket."

— Robert A. Heinlein

"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. "
— Robert A. Heinlein

No comments: