Favourite Heinlein Quotes

[TTBRAHWTMG]

Originally Posted by TTBRAHWTMG

Ailurophiles! Geeze! Thanks for saving me looking it up! Stretching, stretching!

A few threads got me thinking about The Door Into Summer, and I decided to pick it up again to re-read. Partly due to talk of cats making me want to revist old scarred up Pete, partly because I wanted that dam drop the bags quote in context again.

When I opened it, I noticed something right away that I had overlooked on previous readings. Heinlein's dedication reads "For A.P. and Phyllis, Mick and Annette, Aelurophiles All." At first I thought I had another hook in your cheek JD, as you spelled this ailurophile on your post...lol...but a quick check showed both spellings are correct. (from the latin "aeluroidea" meaning "cats")

This got me curious who A.P., Phyllis, Mick and Annette were, which in turn, led me to the following, which I found interesting and thought I'd throw out here for anyone else who might be interested.

The Door Into Summer (1956) was dedicated “For A. P. and Phyllis, Mick and Annette, Aelurophiles All.” “A. P.” refers to William Anthony Parker White (1911 – 1968), science fiction writer, who usually worked under the pseudonym of Anthony Boucher. He was a friend of Heinlein and author of Rocket to the Morgue under another pseudonym, H. H. Holmes. This was a detective story in which the detective is helped in solving the case by thinly-disguised members of the real-life Manãna Literary Society. “Phyllis” is Phyllis White, Boucher’s wife. “Mick” is Jesse Francis McComas (1911 – 1978), who later became editor of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction along with Boucher, and “Annette” was Annette McComas, his wife.

site: Robert A. Heinlein - Archives - Heinlein's Book Dedications

Plenty of interesting info about his dedications on the above site if anyone's interested.

By the way, Pyan, I'm just about through the re-read and ran into the "abandon his baggage line" last night, p75 of the 1964 2nd printing. I'm surprised how it stuck in my head, being inserted so inconsequentially. I'm even more impressed that you FOUND it, considering it's obscurity. How did you come across it?

[pyan]

Niggle, niggle, niggle at that little bit at the back of the brain that remembers everything you ever read! Plus a profound belief in the Great God Google!

[Liz Pf]

Wow!

I leave for a few days (big dustup at my Print on Demand supplier, which has led me to find a new one), and this comes up!

I'm still too new on this board to be allowed to advertise, but I create t-shirts with Heinlein aphorisms on them. And I'm always looking for more material -- fortunately RAH has plenty.

Years ago, in a dull job, I built a HyperCard stack of Heinlein quotes, with citations. Alas, that was many years ago, and that file exists only on a 3.5 floppy, and in an unreadable format :-(

As a professional polymath, "specialization is for insects" is one of my favorites.

So ... what RAH would you like to see on a t-shirt?

--Liz

[TTBRAHWTMG]

Originally Posted by Liz Pf

So ... what RAH would you like to see on a t-shirt?

--Liz

Checked out your site. Love the little girls and butterflies...going to have to order for my girls. Not for a T-shirt...but didn't Heinlein also say "Butterflies aren't insects; they are flowers with wings." or something like that. He must have loved butterflies near as much as he loved cats. Would love the "Yield to temptation. It may not pass your way again!" quote on a shirt with a little RAH or Heinlein under it, although I didn't verify it and am probably paraphrasing.

[pyan]

Close - he actually said;

Butterflies are self-propelled flowers.

and I think its from The Cat Who...

However, he may have been, consciously or unconsciously, influenced by:

The butterfly is a flying flower, the flower a tethered butterfly

by Ponce Denis Écouchard Lebrun(August 11, 1729 - August 31, 1807), the French lyric poet.

[TTBRAHWTMG]

Count on Heinlein to say it better than I ever could. He plants the lines in my head, and portions of them stick forever, but I butcher the artistry of them and retain just the gist of it. Not sure about The Cat Who...haven't read that in ages, and seems I've heard it more recently...maybe Strangers? reread that one a little more recently...I'll defer to you on the source though!

Added: Oops...just remembered that I spent that night reviewing hundreds of Heinlein aphorisms from all his works. That's probably while it feels a little fresh. With my experience with you so far Pyan...I'd put money on TCWWTW now.

[pyan]

(Colonel Colin Campbell) 'Pixel! Leave that insect alone!'
'Butterflies are not insects' Captain John Sterling said soberly. 'They are self-propelled flowers. The Lady Hazel taught me that many years ago'

TCWWTW, Ch 29, page 398, NEL, 1986 edition.

The ending of this book upset me for many years, until the publication of To Sail Beyond The Sunset, which cleared it all up - but I wish I knew why he decided on such a downbeat finish.

[Liz Pf]

Originally Posted by pyan

TCWWTW, Ch 29, page 398, NEL, 1986 edition.

The ending of this book upset me for many years, until the publication of To Sail Beyond The Sunset, which cleared it all up - but I wish I knew why he decided on such a downbeat finish.

I was very annoyed with the ending ... by this time Heinlein was using far too much "Deus ex machina" (if I'm remembering the term correctly). The ending was very downbeat, but given unlimited time travel and parallel universes, I knew nobody would ever be harmed, and everyone would be rescued, and live happily forever after.

To Sail Beyond the Sunset suffered from the same thing ...

--Liz

[Finnien]

I gotta go with "Kiss girls all you want to - It beats the hell out of card games."

The moderation quote is also a long-standing favorite. Ialso have a bit of fondness for "Sit back down — and for God's sake quit trying to be as nasty as I am; you don't have my years of practice. Now let me get something straight: you are not in my debt. You can't be. Impossible — because I never do anything I don't want to do. Nor does anyone, but in my case I am always aware of it." (Had to look this one up, I'm forever misquoting it.)

Favorite quote on the subject of art: "What modern artists do is pseudo-intellectual masturbation." paired with "Obscurity is the refuge of the incompetent."

And finally: "I'm a professional bad example."

[TTBRAHWTMG]

Originally Posted by Finnien

"Sit back down — and for God's sake quit trying to be as nasty as I am; you don't have my years of practice. Now let me get something straight: you are not in my debt. You can't be. Impossible — because I never do anything I don't want to do. Nor does anyone, but in my case I am always aware of it." (Had to look this one up, I'm forever misquoting it.)

I love Jubal!

[Mollygurl]

I know I mentioned this on another post TT but since this is the appropriate thread; I'll add it here as well:

On the Writing of History
History has the relation to truth that theology has to relegion - i.e. none to speak of.

--Lazarus Long in Time Enough For Love

I also love Jubal. I'm sure that most of what he says in Strangers is quota-ble.