I think I'm an insane person.
The closer I look at myself, the more I realize that I too readily interweave hope, expectation, ambition, and desire - until my deepest desires are entertained as realistic expectations, but, once broken by reality, only become transparent to reform into new expectations in the future.
My thoughts have been caught up in some of my central principles of late. Many of these principles are enforced by the correlation between my views and the views expressed by Heinlein in his novels. Admittedly, some of my own views are shameless mimicries of his beliefs; I hold no shame in admitting this, as many of his beliefs are the result of pure rationality and supported by the beauty I see in their connotations.
Overwhelming beauty. Many I frankly do not agree with - he was a stark agnostic, swinging towards militant agnostic, with a distaste for organized religion - but where he errs I can forgive him (as he writes in one of his books: "I don't know who's turning the crank - I'm just glad He doesn't stop.").
I feel like basking in some of these correlations, so I'm going to post a few:
From: 'The Notebooks of Lazarus Long' and 'Time Enough for Love: The Lives of Lazarus Long'
"Work is not an end in itself; there must always be time enough for love!"
"A woman is not property, and husbands who think otherwise are living in a dreamworld."
"Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny."
"A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity."
"If the universe has any purpose more important than topping the woman you love and making a baby with her hearty help, I've never heard of it."
"Don't ever become a pessimist, Ira; a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events."
"Rub her feet."
"Sex should be friendly. Otherwise stick to mechanical toys; it's more sanitary."
"The more you love, the more you can love — and the more intensely you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love. If a person had time enough, he could love all of that majority who are decent and just."
"What a wonderful world it is that has girls in it!"
"Touch is the most fundamental sense. A baby experiences it, all over, before he is born and long before he learns to use sight, hearing, or taste, and no human ever ceases to need it. Keep your children short on pocket money — but long on hugs."
"Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other 'sins' are invented nonsense."
“'I came, I saw, she conquered.' The original Latin seems to have been garbled.”
“A community where everyone is a ruthless murderer, with handy access to death-dealing devices, is a very polite community.”
“Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy.”
“There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.”
“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
“There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.”
“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
“Love" is a that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own...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”
“Be wary of strong drink, it can make you shoot at the tax collector...and miss.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love
“Anybody can look at a pretty girl and see a pretty girl. An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl that she used to be. But a great artist--a master--and that is what Auguste Rodin was--can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is . . . and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be . . . and more than that, he can make anyone with the sensitivity of an armadillo, or even you, see that this lovely young girl is still alive, not old and ugly at all, but simply prisoned inside her ruined body.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land
― Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love
“Anybody can look at a pretty girl and see a pretty girl. An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl that she used to be. But a great artist--a master--and that is what Auguste Rodin was--can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is . . . and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be . . . and more than that, he can make anyone with the sensitivity of an armadillo, or even you, see that this lovely young girl is still alive, not old and ugly at all, but simply prisoned inside her ruined body.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land
“Women are amazing creatures-sweet, soft, gentle, and far more savage than we are.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
There are many, many more passages and quotes that I firmly agree with, but they are not as short and concise as the ones lining the chapters and filling the offshoot title 'The Notebooks of Lazarus Long' - which is just the filler, quote chapters snipped out from Time Enough for Love.
― Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
There are many, many more passages and quotes that I firmly agree with, but they are not as short and concise as the ones lining the chapters and filling the offshoot title 'The Notebooks of Lazarus Long' - which is just the filler, quote chapters snipped out from Time Enough for Love.
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