"‘Tis but a scratch." "You stupid bastard, you haven’t got any arms left." "Course I have… had enough … ? I’m invincible!" "You’re a looney." "All right, we’ll call it a draw."
"The US has given the Russians a wide range of diplomatic opportunities to demonstrate the American Eagle is really just another vulture".
I would like to submit something written by the famous US science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein (one of the most astonishingly irrational US chauvinists who ever lived - which is saying a very great deal).
"I didn't tell him that the American Eagle eats carrion, never tackles anything its own size, and will soon be extinct—it does stand for those ideals. A symbol means what you put into it".
To be fair, Heinlein was also a staunch and unbending rationalist and contrarian. E.g.:
'What are the facts? Again and again and again – what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what “the stars foretell,” avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable “verdict of history” – what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!'
- Lazarus Long (in “Time Enough for Love” p. 262, by R.A. Heinlein)
"Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal".
- Robert A Heinlein, “Assignment in Eternity” (This one is very deep, and rewards hours of meditation).
"Most people can’t think, most of the remainder won’t think, the small fraction who do think mostly don’t do it very well. The extremely tiny fraction who think regularly, actively, creatively, and without self-delusion – in the long run these are the only people who count…"
- Lazarus Long (in “Time Enough for Love” p. 396, by R.A. Heinlein)
"‘Tis but a scratch." "You stupid bastard, you haven’t got any arms left." "Course I have… had enough … ? I’m invincible!" "You’re a looney." "All right, we’ll call it a draw."
"The US has given the Russians a wide range of diplomatic opportunities to demonstrate the American Eagle is really just another vulture".
I would like to submit something written by the famous US science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein (one of the most astonishingly irrational US chauvinists who ever lived - which is saying a very great deal).
"I didn't tell him that the American Eagle eats carrion, never tackles anything its own size, and will soon be extinct—it does stand for those ideals. A symbol means what you put into it".
To be fair, Heinlein was also a staunch and unbending rationalist and contrarian. E.g.:
'What are the facts? Again and again and again – what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what “the stars foretell,” avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable “verdict of history” – what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!'
- Lazarus Long (in “Time Enough for Love” p. 262, by R.A. Heinlein)
"Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal".
- Robert A Heinlein, “Assignment in Eternity” (This one is very deep, and rewards hours of meditation).
"Most people can’t think, most of the remainder won’t think, the small fraction who do think mostly don’t do it very well. The extremely tiny fraction who think regularly, actively, creatively, and without self-delusion – in the long run these are the only people who count…"
- Lazarus Long (in “Time Enough for Love” p. 396, by R.A. Heinlein)
Thanks Julian,
Here are a couple of new ones:
https://rickycook21.substack.com/p/the-book-on-the-living-god-by-bo
https://rickycook21.substack.com/p/israel-the-jewish-settler-colony
Richard