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Robert Anson Heinlein was born at Butler, Missouri on this day in 1907. One of the "Big Three" authors of science fiction (along with Asimov and Clarke), his stories offered vivid characters who consistently were independent in both thought and action. He used his stories to comment on politics, religion, and sexuality, and described the waterbed so clearly that when it was actually invented it was impossible to patent it. I've spent many delightful hours in his worlds. Here are a few quotes from the grand master.

Today's Quotes:

It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion. And usually easier.

The hardest part about gaining any new idea is sweeping out the false idea occupying that niche. As long as that niche is occupied, evidence and proof and logical demonstration get nowhere. But once the niche is emptied of the wrong idea that has been filling it - once you can honestly say, "I don't know," then it becomes possible to get at the truth.

The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science requires reasoning while those other subjects merely require scholarship.

To be matter of fact about the world is to blunder into fantasy - and dull fantasy at that, as the real world is strange and wonderful.

To get anywhere, or even to live a long time, a man has to guess, and guess right, over and over again, without enough data for a logical answer.

$100 invested at 7% interest for 100 years will become $100,000, at which time it will be worth absolutely nothing.
- All from Robert Anson Heinlein, 1907 - 1988

From today's Quote of the Day

More Heinlein quotes here.