Heinlein, was:[NCLUG] Sigs, was:Re: NCLUG LinkedIn Group

[Chad Perrin]

On Thu, Oct 11, 2007 at 03:56:48PM -0600, Brian Wood wrote:
> dlc at frii.com wrote:
> > I read "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" as a young teenager, as well as
> > every other Heinlein book I could find.  Like most, I never met him. 
> > However I have met two other of my favorites Alan Dean Foster and
> > Christopher Staschef, the former in a small group and the latter
> > personally via a mutual friend.  I never get autographs, but I never pass
> > up the chance to chat.  :)
> > 
> > Another great "Heinlein-ism"
> > "An honest politician is one who stays bought."
> 
> RAH is probably best known for "TANSTAAFL", used by many without
> attribution.

My favorites, however, both came from "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls":

  I go on writing for the same reason a chicken goes on laying eggs.

  When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.

A close runner-up is:

  An armed society is a polite society.

Sadly, that last one is very commonly misunderstood as evoking a sort of
population of Dirty Harry types you're afraid to offend, when the obvious
meaning of it to one who takes the time to consider the matter is more
related to the personal responsibility and discipline that comes from
taking on the burden of self defense as a matter of maturity.  In other
words, it was more a comment on the infantilizing power of the State than
a humorous reference to the danger of calling an armed man a murderer for
carrying a firearm.

Of course, there's always the humor of the irony in that.  If he really
*was* a murderer at heart, he'd have the means to prove it -- and if you
call him such when he's armed, you obviously don't actually believe that
of him, unless you have a death wish.

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
Thomas McCauley: "The measure of a man's real character is what he would do
if he knew he would never be found out."