"A hero must hero."

"I woke up in bed with a man and a cat. The man was a stranger, the cat was not."

"Nothing uses up alcohol faster than political argument."

"The less respect an older person deserves the more certain he is to demand it from anyone younger."

"Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards."

"I've never been able to understand 'faith' myself, nor to see how a just God could expect his creatures to pick the one true religion out of an infinitude of false ones - by faith alone. It strikes me as a sloppy way to run an organization, whether universe or a smaller one."

"There is no conclusive evidence of life after death, but there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know, so why fret about it?"

"Freedom is a hard habit to break."

"The greatest danger to man in space was man himself."

"Never underestimate the power of human stupidity."

"It is almost impossible to shake of one's earliest training. Duke, can you get it through your skull that had you been brought up by Martians, you would have the same attitude toward eating and being eaten as Mike has."

"I do know that the slickest way to lie is to tell the right amount of truth--then shut up."

"My old man says when it's time to be counted, the important thing is to be man enough to stand up."

"Oh, you have to charge 'em, Jubal. The marks won't pay attention if it's free."

"Geniuses and supergeniuses always make their own rules about sex as on everything else, they do not accept the monkey customs of their lessers."

"Science fiction" means different things to different people. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra"-in which case the term science fiction has piled up a lot of expensive overtime."

"Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire."

"Government! Three fourths parasitic and the other fourth Stupid fumbling."

"By cultivating the beautiful we scatter the seeds of heavenly flowers, as by doing good we cultivate those that belong to humanity."

"To die trying is the proudest humans thing."

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."

"But, do you know, once you get used to it's rather cute. I mean, if a girl looks alright to start with, she still looks alright with her head smooth."

"Never try to out-stubborn a cat."

"Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so."

"Being right too soon is socially unacceptable."

"A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill."

"Don't explain computers to laymen. Simpler to explain sex to a virgin."

"Richard, Bill has the socialist disease in its worst form; he thinks the world owes him a living. He told me sincerely - smugly! - that of course everyone was entitled to the best possible medical and hospital service - free of course, unlimited of course, and of course the government should pay for it."

"Good! the creature echoed. "Doctor Nelson will be along in a minute. Feel like breakfast?All symbols were in Smith's vocabulary but he had trouble believing that he had heard rightly. He knew that he was food, but he did not "feel like food. Nor had he any warning that he might be selected for such honor."

"It's up to the artist to use language that can be understood, not hide it in some private code. Most of these jokers don't even want to use language you and I know or can learn . . . they would rather sneer at us and be smug, because we 'fail' to see what they are driving at. If indeed they are driving at anything--obscurity is usually the refuge of incompetence."

"More depended on the student than on the school."

"One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others."

"The Bible is such a gargantuan collection of conflicting values that anyone can "prove" anything from it."

"Come Judgment Day, we may find that Mumbo Jumbo the God of the Congo was the Big Boss all along."

"Every time we killed a thousand Bugs at a cost of one M.I. it was a net victory for the Bugs. We were learning, expensively, just how efficient a total communism can be when used by a people actually adapted to it by evolution; the Bug commisars didn't care any more about expending soldiers than we cared about expending ammo. Perhaps we could have figured this out about the Bugs by noting the grief the Chinese Hegemony gave the Russo-Anglo-American Alliance; however the trouble with 'lessons from history' is that we usually read them best after falling flat on our chins."

"The way to find justice is to deal fairly with other people and not worry about how they deal with you."

"If you've got the truth you can demonstrate it. Talking doesn't prove it."

"Library science was the foundation of all sciences."

"The coldest depth of Hell is reserved for people who abandon kittens."

"Daughters can spend ten percent more than a man can make in any usual occupation. That's a law of nature, to be known henceforth as 'Harshaw's Law."

"When you read about chemistry and physics, you want to do them too."

"Does history record any case in which the majority was right?"

"Oh, "Tanstaafl." Means "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." And isn't,' I added, pointing to a FREE LUNCH sign across room, 'or these drinks would cost half as much. Was reminding her that anything free costs twice as much in long run or turns out worthless."

"He never once repeated himself and he never used either profanity or obscenity. (I learned later that he saved those for very special occasions, which this wasn't.) But he described our shortcomings, physical, mental, moral, and genetic, in great and insulting detail.But somehow I was not insulted; I became greatly interested in studying his command of language. I wished that we had had him on our debate team."

"Death isn't funny." "Then why are there so many jokes about death? Jill, with us - us humans - death is so sad that we must laugh at it."

"Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's supposed to do."

"Some people insist that 'mediocre' is better than 'best.' They delight in clipping wings because they themselves can't fly. They despise brains because they have none."

"Thinking doesn't pay. Just makes you discontented with what you see around you."

"To permit irresponsible authority is to sell disaster."

"I waited. Women talk when they want to. Or don't."