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Talk:Portuguese proverbs

2021-07-13T20:23:09Z

Dread83: /* A */ from A má erva, depressa nasce e depressa envelhece

Elas gostam assim

== Move page ==

Hi. I would suggest that this article be moved to [[Proverbs in Portuguese]], since the name suggests that only proverbs used in [[w:Portugal|Portugal]] should be listed, when in fact there already are proverbs from [[w:Brazil|Brazil]] on the list and it is quite possible that proverbs from other Portuguese-speaking countries might be added. Regards, [[User:Redux|Redux]] 18:22, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)
:I have moved the page. The page "Portuguese proverbs" will be turned into a redirect page. [[User:Redux|Redux]] 14:13, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)

== Proverbs in Portuguese - critisim of name change. ==

I beg to differ about renaming "Portuguese Proverb" to "Proverbs in Portuguese". Better to keep the naming conventions the same. The same problem exists in German and Spanish.

[[User:203.12.97.47|203.12.97.47]] 00:11, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)
:Yes, the problem is recurrent for all languages spoken in more than one country, hence my comment on the Main Page's [[Talk:Main Page|talk page]]. Since it was ignored, I followed my judgement. I can't counterargument (or agree with) your digression because you did not say why it is that you think the renaming isn't a good idea. Although I could say that it would not appear that the mere fact that other pages present the old format would be sufficient reason to revert to the former naming convention. Most likely it all started with one article (probably the "[[English proverbs]]") and it was copied all over. For the reason I wrote above I really think it was mistaken to name them as they were named, and we shouldn't keep something wrong (or badly done) just because it's wrong in other articles (which ideally should be fixed as well). Regards, [[User:Redux|Redux]] 18:08, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

:I didn't understand at all why it was moved to "Proverbs in Portuguese" in the first place. The word "Portuguese" means both 'of Portugal' and 'the Portuguese language', so while it's true that the 1st meaning doesn't fit for proverbs from Brazil, the 2nd meaning is fine. If you want to distinguish between Brazilian and Portuguese (=of Portugal) proverbs, you can create sections inside this page, but renaming the page doesn't make much sense, like in most of the other proverbs pages. So I moved the page back to "Portuguese proverbs". [[User:Sams|Sams]] 10:55, 23 May 2005 (UTC)

== External links ==

Hi. I would like to suggest the following link [http://www.kocher.pro.br/port.htm Provérbios Portugueses e Brasileiros]. -- [[User:SaraOliveira|SaraOliveira]] 15:01, 15 Oct 2004 (GMT)
:I've added it to the main article. [[User:Redux|Redux]] 23:25, 17 Oct 2004 (UTC)

== Some of the meanings/translations weren't quite correct ==

I think they should stay true to the accepted English meaning. I made a couple of changes and will probably do more. I hope no one has a problem with it, afterall this is supposed to be as accurate as possible. [[User:87.196.10.70|87.196.10.70]] 03:59, 23 October 2005 (UTC)

== Proverbs and idioms ==

The page mixes proverbs and idioms (idiomatic expressions). Telling them apart is possible but is a task, especially because everybody will have his own personal list of proverbs, etc. For instance, "O gato mordeu-te a língua?" is not a proverb. A few other are the result of modern foreign mediatic penetration and have very little value as folk wisdom. --[[User:Xyzt1234|Xyzt1234]] 16:30, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

== Major Ed ==

I'm making a major addition, based upon all the proverbs I heard or used during my lifetime (so far), which I have been collecting here. Let's say I'm a first hand hearwitness. This will, obviously, takes some time.

Thanks for all the others I didn't know; a few look indeed genuine and are quite witty.
--[[User:Xyzt1234|Xyzt1234]] 19:57, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

: I removed the link above to the proverbs page, as the page was removed. --[[User:Xyzt1234|Xyzt1234]] 21:59, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

==The hen's Crop==

"I saw that "De grão em grão, a galinha enche o papo"

I think that the correct translation of "papo" in english is "crop" or something
It's that bird's thing. That wiggly thing where the hen keeps her consumed food."

The above isn't signed. Well, yes, that's it according to Webster's, thanks. --[[User:Xyzt1234|Xyzt1234]] 18:06, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

== The page is getting heavy ==

The page got heavy... I'm not experienced with breaking a page and keeping things working, like categories etc. Could someone experienced do it? I could try, but I don't want to mess up. --[[User:Xyzt1234|Xyzt1234]] 15:32, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

== These are not Portuguese proverbs ==

Most of the proverbs are in fact used in Portugal but not all (e.g. life starts at 40 is not a proverb but a quote i think). I think this page should be called Proverbs in Portuguese because there are also proverbs that are just plain translations present. On the other hand some "proverbs" like "Solta a Franga" are just expressions (and not proverbs).

The title Portuguese Proverbs implies that they are used in Portugal. That is not the case for all of the presented "proverbs".

For instance "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" is not used at all in Portugal. We have a similar proverb "A Vaca da vizinha dá mais leite do que a minha" (The neibourgh's cow has/gives more milk than mine) but its not the same thing.

Hope this helps...

: (The above isn't signed.)
: Or "A galinha da vizinha...", which is the variant I always knew.

:I agree (see up there, Proverbs and Idioms).

:We can't police the page, it's too big, and at least *I* don't know all the proverbs around -- although it bugs me to read proverbs I never heard in my life, as I know some people will just buy a collection of proverbs that include about anything, including 14th century stuff, imaginary proverbs never heard of and translations from the latin you would be very silly to use.

:But I can't clearly say "It's not really a portuguese proverb", unless in obvious cases of "import". I can only say "Oh, I '''DO''' know that one!" And I most certainly don't know proverbs local to Brasil.

:Many people don't know the difference between an idiomatic expression and a proverb either; and the invasion of anglo-saxon culture through the media makes people adopt foreign proverbs. A proverb is a thing with a structure.

:I prefer to add, instead of deleting or correcting, as per Wikipedia suggestions, adding the variants I know and a note "This is an idiomatic expression, not a proverb", when I'm sure of it (which is not always the case).

: I hope this helps too... --[[User:Xyzt1234|Xyzt1234]] 21:55, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

== Unsourced ==
'''NOTE: The following quotes must be sourced before being restored.'''

==A==

* ''"A açorda faz a velha gorda e a menina formosa."''
** Translation: "The "açorda" fattens the old woman and makes the young woman shapeful".
** ''Note'': "''Açorda''" is a popular dish based upon bread and water.

* ''"À boda e ao baptizado não vás sem ser convidado."''
** Translation: Don't go uninvited to baptisms and weddings.

* ''"A bom entendedor meia palavra basta."''
** Translation: "To those that understand well half a word is enough."
** Meaning: Don't say more, I got it.
** Meaning: I won't tell you more, you can get at the idea yourself
** Equivalent: A word to the wise is enough / Half a word is enough for a wise man
** Equivalent in Greek: Ο νοών νοείτο. "The minded knows."

* ''"A falar é que a gente se entende."''
** Translation: Talking is the way for people to understand each other.
** Meaning: If we don't talk about it we won't get things cleared up.

* ''"A esperança é a última que morre."
** Translation: Hope is the last to die.
** Variation: ''"A esperança é a última a morrer."
** Meaning: Don´t give up!, She/he will not give up
** Equivalent: Hope is life.
** Equivalent in Greek: Η ελπίδα πεθαίνει πάντα τελευταία. "Hope dies always last."

* ''"A fome é o melhor tempero."''
** Translation: "Hunger is the best spice"
** Meaning: When you're hungry, everything tastes better.
** Variant: "A fome é a melhor cozinheira."
** Translation: "Hunger is the best cook."

* ''"A fruta proibida é a mais apetecida."''
** Translation: The forbidden fruit is the most desired.
** Equivalent in Greek: Η αμαρτία είναι γλυκιά. "The sin is sweet."

* ''"A grama é sempre mais verde do lado do vizinho."'' (Brazil)
** Translation: "The grass is always greener on the neighbor's side (of the fence)."
** Portuguese version: ''"A galinha da vizinha é mais gorda que a minha."''
** Translation: My neighbour's chicken is fatter than mine.
** Meaning: We always want what we don't have.
** Equivalent: The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
** Equivalent in French: L'herbe du voisin est toujours plus verte.

* ''"A grande nau, grande tormenta."''
** Translation: To big ships, big storms.
** Meaning: Bigger enterprises/projects have more and more difficult problems.
** Usage: Sometimes, about ambitions for which the person is incompetent.

* ''"A justiça começa em casa."
** Translation: "Justice begins at home"

*''"A má erva, depressa nasce e depressa envelhece"''

* ''"A morte não escolhe idades."''
** Translation: Death doesn't pick ages.
** Variant: "A morte não conhece idade."
** Translation: "Death does not know (recognize) age."
** Related Equivalent: "Death picks no sides."

* ''"A necessidade é a mãe da invenção."''
** Translation: "Necessity is the mother of invention."
** Equivalence: "Necessity is the mother of invention."

* ''"A ocasião faz o ladrão."
** Translation: "The opportunity makes the thief."
** Equivalent in French: L'occasion fait le larron.

* ''"A ociosidade é a mãe de todos os vícios."
** Translation: "Idleness is mother to all vices"
** Variant: "A preguiça é a mãe de todos os vícios."
** Translation: "Laziness is the mother of all vices."
** Equivalent: "Idle hands are the Devil's playground."
** Equivalent in Greek (Ancient and Modern): Αργία μήτηρ πάσης κακίας.

* ''"A palavra é de prata e o silêncio é de ouro."''
** Translation: "Words are silver and silence is gold."
** Equivalent in Greek: Η σιωπή είναι χρυσός.
** Equivalent in French: La parole est d’argent et le silence est d’or.

* "''A pensar morreu um burro.''"
** Translation: A donkey died (from) thinking (too much).
** Modern equivalent expression: "Você não é pago para pensar" (You're not being paid to think.)

* ''"À primeira qualquer cai, à segunda cai qualquer, à terceira só cai quem quer."''
** Translation: " One can be fooled once, twice can be (any)one fooled, but can only be fooled the third time one that wants to be [fooled]."''
** Near equivelence: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
** Near equivalence in Greek (mostly ancient): Το δις εξαμαρτείν ουκ ανδρός σοφου. "An error made twice does not fit a wise man."

* ''"A quem muito se abaixa vê-se-lhe o rabo."''
** Transl.: Those who bend too much allow their ass to be seen.
** Variant.: "A quem muito se agacha vê-se-lhe o rabo."
** Transl.: Those who get too low allow their ass to be seen.

* ''"A sorte de uns é o azar de outros."''
** Transl.: One guy's good luck is the other guy's bad luck.
** (Somewhat) Equivalent: One man's trash is another man's treasure.
** Equivalent in Greek: Ο θανατός σου η ζωή μου. "Your death is my life."

* ''"A união faz a força."''
** Translation: "Strength made from union."
***Equivalence: "United we stand, divided we fall."
** Equivalent in French: L'union fait la force.
** Equivalent in Greek (ancient and modern): Ισχύς εν τη ενώσει.

* ''"A uns morrem as vacas, a outros parem os bois."''
** Transl: To some cows die, to others bulls give birth.
** Meaning: whereas some men know only misfortune, on other men God's choicest gifts are poured.

* ''"A vida começa aos 40"
** Equivalence : "Life begins at forty"
** Equivalent in Greek: Η ζωή αρχίζει στα σαράντα/Η ζωή ξεκινάει στα -άντα.

* ''"A vingança é um prato que se serve frio."''
** Translation: "Revenge is a dishthat one serves cold."
** Equivalent: "Revenge is a dish best served cold."
** Equivalent in French: La vengeance est un plat qui se mange froid.
** Equivalent in Greek: Η εκδίκηση είναι ένα πιάτο που τρώγεται κρύο.

* ''"Achado não é roubado."
** Translation: Found isn't stolen.
** Equivalent: "Finders keepers"

* ''"Água dá, água leva."
** Translation: "Water gives, water takes away"
** Near equivalent in Greek: Xους ην και εις χουν απελεύσην. "I was soil and I leave to soil." (Christian belief that body is made by soil.)

* ''"Água e vento são meio sustento."''
** Translation: Water and wind are [already] half your share.
** Meaning: You're alive, that's not bad at all, you can go for the rest now.

* ''"Água mole em pedra dura, tanto bate até que fura."''
** Variant: ''"Água mole em pedra dura, tanto dá até que fura."''
** Translation: "Soft water on hard rock will work until it makes a hole."
** Meaning: No matter how pointless and hopeless it seems, if you don't give up you will eventually succeed.

* ''"Águas passadas não movem moinhos."
** Translation: "Past waters don´t move watermills"
** Meaning: Past accomplishments make no impact today.
** Variant: "Água parada não move moinho."
** Translation: "Stillwater does not move watermills."
Meaning: If you don't put an effort into it, it will never get accomplished.

* ''"Água pelo São João tira azeite e não dá pão."
** Translation: "Water by Saint John's (celebration) takes oil and doesn't give bread."

* ''"Albarda-se o burro à vontade do dono."'' (Port.)
**Translation: "The donkey is to be loaded at its owner's will"
** Variation: ''"Amarra-se o cavalo à vontade do dono." (Brazil)
** Translation: "You tie the horse at the will of the master."

* ''"Amigo não empata amigo."''
** Translation: A friend doesn't hinder a friend.

* ''"Amor com amor se paga."
** Translation: "Love is paid with love"

* ''"Amor e fé nas obras se vê."
** Translation: "love and faith are seen in their works (effects)."

* ''"Anda meio mundo a enganar o outro."''
** Translation: Half the world is trying to con the other half.

* ''"Antes a morte que tal sorte."''
** Transl.: Rather death than such fate.

* ''"Antes aqui que na farmácia."''
** Translation: It's better [to spend] here than at the pharmacy.

* ''"Antes cegues que mal vejas."''
** Translation.: You had better be blind than to badly see.
** Similar equivalent in Greek: Στους τυφλούς βασιλεύει ο μονόφθαλμος. "Among the blind, the king is the one-eyed."
** Equivalent in French: Il n'est pire aveugle que celui qui ne veut pas voir.

* ''"Antes dentes que parentes."''
** Translation: It's better [to lose] teeth than relatives.

* ''"Antes morte que má sorte."''
** Translation: Rather death than bad luck.

* ''"Antes que cases, vê o que fazes."
** Translation: "Before you marry, watch what you do."

* "''Antes quebrar que torcer."''
** Variant: "Mais vale quebrar que torcer."
** Translation: It's better to break than to bend/twist.

* ''"Antes tarde do que nunca."
** Variant: ''"Mais vale tarde do que nunca."''
** Translation/Equivalence: "Better late than never."
** Equivalent in French: Mieux vaut tard que jamais.
** Equivalent in Greek: Κάλλιο αργά παρά ποτέ.

* ''"Ajoelhou, tem que rezar."'' (Brazil)
** Translation: "If you've kneeled, you've got to pray."
*** Said to someone who agrees to do something, and later wants to give it up.
*** Equivalent : You made your bed now you lie on it.
** Equivalent in Greek: Όπως έστρωσες θα κοιμηθέις.

* ''"Ao Diabo e à mulher nunca falta que fazer."''
** Translation: The Devil and women have always something to do.

* ''"Ao menino e ao borracho põe Deus a mão por baixo."''
** Variant: ''"Ao menino e ao borracho mete Deus a mão por baixo."''
** Translation: "To the child and the little bird (or drunkard), God catches the fall (puts a hand underneath)."
** Near equivalent: God takes care of drunks.
** Equivalent: Heaven protects children, sailors and drunks.
** Equivalent variation: God looks after fools, drunkards, and the United States.
** Equivalents in Greek (from Christianity Word):
1) Μακάριοι οι πτωχοί το πνεύματι. "Lucky those with poor spirit."
2) Ασθενείς και οδοιπόροι αμαρτίαν ούκ έχει. "Sick and travellers have no sin."

* ''"Aquilo que sabe bem ou é pecado ou faz mal."''
** Translation: All pleasant things are either a sin or bad for your health.

* ''"As boas contas fazem os bons amigos."''
** Translation: Good accounting makes good friends.
** Equivalent in French: Les bons comptes font les bons amis.
** Equivalent in Greek: Οι καλοί λογαριασμόι κάνουν τους καλούς φίλους.

* ''"As cadelas apressadas parem cães tortos."''
** Translation: Hurried bitches give birth to twisted pups.
** Variant: ''"As cadelas apressadas parem os filhos mortos."''
** Translation: Hurried bitches give birth to dead offspring."

* ''"As más noticias chegam depressa."''
** Translation: Bad news arrive fast.
** Equivalent: Bad news travel fast.
** Equivalent in Greek: Τα κακά μαντάτα μαθαίνονται γρήγορα.

* ''"As palavras loucas fazem as orelhas moucas."''
** Translation: Silly words make ears deaf.

* ''"As palavras são como as cerejas."''
** Translation: Words are like cherries.
** Meaning: Cherries come out of the plate in chains. When you start talking, subjects pop up and you end up with long conversations.
** Similar equivalent in Greek: Όπου ακους πολλά κεράσια κράτα και μικρά καλάθια. It means about "Where you hear much, be ready for less."

* ''"As palavras voam, a escrita fica."''
** Translation: Words fly, writings remain.
** Equivalent: Words spoken vanish, those written remain.
** Latin: Verba volant, scripta manent.
** Ancient Greek (by Homer): Έπεα πτερόεντα. "Words are taken by wind"
** Modern Greek: Τα γραπτά μένουν, τα λόγια πετούν.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_phrases_%28P%E2%80%93Z%29]

* ''"Ás três é de vez."''
** Translation: The third time it will be final.
** Equivalent: The third time's the charm.
** Equivalent in Greek: Μια του κλέφτη, δυο του κλέφτη, τρεις και η κακή του ώρα. "Once thief, twice thief, the third time is bad for him."

* ''"Assim como vive o Rei, vivem os vassalos."
** Translation: "As the king lives, so live his vassals."

* ''"Atrás de mim virá quem de mim bom fará."''
** Translation: After me will come one that will make from me a good person [in the public view].

==B==

* ''"Barriga cheia, companhia desfeita"''
** Transl.: The belly is full, the association is over.
** Use: About people who leave or ignore you after having attained their objectives. Also in the sexual meaning. Sardonic, scornful.

* ''"Bem se canta na Sé, mas é quem é."''
** Transl.: So well do they sing at the cathedral, but they're who they are.
** Use: About orders, meaning, they're up there, they can say it.

* ''"Boa árvore, bons frutos."
** Translation: "Good tree, good fruits."

* ''"Boda molhada, boda abençoada."''
** Translation: A wet wedding is a blessed wedding.
** Use: When it rains at a wedding.

* ''"Burros velhos não aprendem línguas."''
** Translation: "Old donkeys do not learn languages."
** Equivalence: "You can't teach an old dog new tricks."

* ''"Bem mal ceia quem come de mão alheia."
** Translation: "It's an ill supper which come from other's hand."

* ''"Brigas de namorados, amores dobrados."
** Translation: "Lovers' fights, double loves."

* ''"Brigam as comadres, descobrem-se as verdades."
** Translation: "The midwives fight, the truths are discovered."
** Variant: "Zangam-se as comadres, conhecem-se as verdades." (Port.)
** ''Note'': "Comadre" and "Compadre" also refer to the relationship between the parents of a wed couple. For instance, the man's mother is "comadre" of the woman's father, and he's her "compadre" (which is also a common treatment in some regions). So "comadres" can also mean the mothers of those wed. The same treatment applies between parents of a child and his/her godparents.

==C==

* ''"Comer o pão que o diabo amassou"''
** Translation "Eating the bread that devil has kneaded."
** Equivalence: Making your bed and lieing in it.

* ''"Cá e lá más fadas há."''
** Transl.: There and here you'll find bad fairies.
** Meaning: You'll find bad people and things elsewhere too.

* ''"Cada cabeça sua sentença."
** Translation: "Each head its sentence."
** Meaning: Everybody has his own, different opinion.

* ''"Cada coisa com seu uso, cada roca com seu fuso."''
** Translation: Each thing has its use, and each thread its spindle.
** Meaning: Everything and everyone has its place, its proper use and its complement.

* ''"Cada macaco no seu galho."
** Translation: "Each monkey on its branch."
** Meaning: One should mind his own business. Everyone is to stay at their place, in a social or working sense.

* ''"Cada maluco com a sua mania."''
** Translation: Every madman has its own enthusiasm.
** Usage: About people with benignly unusual thought, speech or behavior.

* ''"Cada qual é para o que nasce."''
** Translation: Each one is meant for what he was born for.
** Usage: Fatalistic.

* ''"Cada qual com o seu igual."
** Translation: "Each one with his peer."

* ''"Cada qual no seu ofício."
** Translation: "Each one in their profession."

* ''"Cada qual sabe onde lhe aperta o sapato."
** Translation: "One knows where the shoe is too tight."
** Meaning: only the person knows about his difficulties [on the matter at hand].
** Possible equivalent: Before criticizing a man, walk a mile in his shoes.

* ''"Cada terra com seu uso, cada roca com seu fuso."''
** Translation: To each land its uses, to each thread its spindle.
** Variant: see above "cada coisa...".
** Usage: About different customs in different lands.

* ''"Cada um a seu dono."
** Translation: "Each one to his owner."

* ''"Cada um chega a brasa à sua sardinha."''
** Translation: Everyone gets the ember close to his own sardine.
** Usage: About everyday egoism. About people who seek their own benefit in a particular cause without paying attention to others, specially if everybody starts doing it at the same time.

* ''"Cada um come do que gosta."''
** Translation: Each person eats what he likes best.
** Usage: About unusual appetites or behaviors.

* ''"Cada um dá o que tem [e a mais não é obrigado]."
** Translation: "One only gives what one has [and can't be made to give more]."

* ''"Cada um por si e Deus por todos."
** Translation: "Every man for himself and God for all."
** Equivalent in French: Chacun pour soi et Dieu pour tous.

* ''"Cada um sabe as linhas com que se cose."''
** Translation: Each people knows with which line to sew.
** Meaning: Let people do their own way, only they know what's good for them.

* ''"Candeia que vai à frente alumia duas vezes."''
** Translation: [A] Lamp going in front give twice more light.

* ''"Casa onde entra o sol não entra o médico."''
** Translation: [In a] House where the sun gets in, the doctor doesn't.

* ''"Casa onde não há pão, todos ralham e ninguém tem razão."
** Translation: "In a breadless home, everyone argues and nobody is right."
** Usage: When a group of people start arguing about many petty things when there is a serious and unavoidable lack of something important and usually not mentioned.

* ''"Casa roubada, trancas à porta."
** Translation: "Stolen house, bars on the door."

* ''"Casamento e mortalha no céu se talha."''
** Translation: Marriage and shroud are made in Heaven.

* ''"Casamento, apartamento."''
** Translation: Marriage, separation.
** Meaning: When marrying you will leave your parents (and your parents will not intrude).

* ''"Casarás, amansarás."''
** Translation: You'll marry, you'll get tame.

* ''"Cesteiro que faz um cesto faz um cento se lhe derem verga e tempo"
** Translation: "Basketeer who makes a basket makes a hundred if he's given wicker and time."
** Usages: About someone who already did something (usually not a good one) and is likely to keep on doing it, provided he's allowed to.

* ''"Chapa ganha, chapa gasta."''
** Translation: A cent earned, a cent spent.
** Usage: About spending as quick as you earn it.

* ''"Comer e coçar está no começar."
** Translation: "To eat and to itch is in the beggining."
** Usage: About things you want to keep on having, or acts repeating, after having started.

* ''"Cautela e caldos de galinha nunca fizeram mal a ninguém."''
** Translation: Care and chicken soup never hurt no-one.
** Usage: When you apply minor care to a person or situation, in spite of, or in the absence of the appropriate care.

* ''"Com mulher louca, andem as mãos e cale-se a boca."''
** Translation: With a foolish woman, let the hands move and the mouth stay shut.

* ''"Com papas e bolos se enganam os tolos."''
** Translation: You fool the silly with porridge and cakes.

* ''"Com tempo tudo se cura."''
** Translation: With time everything gets cured.

* ''"Com vinagre não se apanham moscas."''
** Translation: You don't catch flies with vinegar.
** Meaning: You wont get much from people by being unpleasant.
** Equivalence: Honey catches more flies than vinegar.
** Equivalent in French: On ne prend pas les mouches avec du vinaigre.

* ''"Come para viver, não vivas para comer."''
** Translation: Eat to live, don't live to eat.
** Equivalent in French: Il faut manger pour vivre, et non vivre pour manger.

* ''"Contas são contas."''
** Translation: Accounting is accounting.
** Meaning: Everything is wondeful, but we have to keep our mutual accounting straight.

* ''"Contra factos não há argumentos."''
** Translation: There are no arguments against facts.
** Equivalent: There's no arguing about facts.

* ''"Cu de bêbado não tem dono."''
** Translation: "A drunk's ass has no owner."
** One should not place oneself in a situation where one is left totally vulnerable.

* ''"Custa mais a mecha que o sebo."''
** Translation: "The wick is more expensive than the tallow."

==D==

* ''"Da discussão nasce a luz."
** Translation: "From dissension/discussion comes light."

* ''"De Espanha, nem bom vento nem bom casamento."
** Translation: "From Spain can come neither good winds nor good marriages."
** Used to emphasize the rivalry between Portugal and Spain, in any context.

* ''"De grão em grão enche a galinha o papo."''
** Translation: "Grain by grain the hen fills her crop."
** Variant: Grão a grão enche a galinha o papo.
** Equivalence: Even the greatest works are constructed stone by stone.
** Equivalence: Many a little makes a mickle.

* ''"De génio e de louco, todos temos um pouco."
** Translation: "Of genius and crazy, we all have a little"
** Variant: ''"De médico e de louco todos temos um pouco^"''.
** Translation: We all have a little of physician and madman.

* ''"De noite todos os gatos são pardos."
** Translation: "At night all cats are grey."
** Equivalent in French: La nuit, tous les chats sont gris.
** Equivalent in English: After dark all cats are leopards

* ''"Defunto muito encomendado, vai directo para o Inferno."''
** Translation: "A deceased person much prayed for goes straight to hell"
** A big funeral indicates a wicked life, or...
** Evil men have big funerals.
** Meaning: When you care/control in excess your enterprise is likely to fail.

* ''"Depois da tempestade vem a bonança."''
** Translation: "After the storm comes tranquility."
** Equivalent in French: Après la pluie, (vient) le beau temps.

* ''"Depressa e bem, ninguém."''
** Variation: ''"Depressa e bem, não há quem."''
** Translation: Quick and well, nobody.

* ''"Deus ajuda aqueles que se ajudam a si mesmos."''
** Translation: "God helps those who help themselves."

* ''"Deus dá nozes a quem não tem dentes [e dentes a quem não tem nozes]."
** Translation: "God gives nuts to those that don't have teeth [and theet to those who don't have nuts]."
** Those who have, get.
** You never get what you want.
** Usage: about someone who received something very good/expensive/needed he can't or doesn't know how to use fully and we really needed or wished to have for ourselves.

* ''"Deus escreve certo por linhas tortas."
** Variant: ''"Deus escreve direito por linhas tortas."''
** Translation: "God writes straight by curved lines."
** Usage: About something good or profitable to us resulting from the evil schemes of others or a streak of bad luck, usually in a suprising manner.

* ''"Devagar se vai ao longe."''
** Translation: "Slowly one goes far."
** Equivalent French: Qui veut aller loin ménage sa monture.

* ''"Dinheiro não traz felicidade."''
** Translation: "Money doesn't bring happiness."

* ''"Dividir para conquistar."''
** Translation: "Divide to conquer."
** ''Note'': Latin: ''divide et impera.''
** Equivalent in french: Diviser pour mieux reigner.

* ''"Diz-me com quem andas dir-te-ei quem és."
** Translation: "Tell me who you gather with and I'll tell you who you are."
** Equivalence: A man is known by the company he keeps.
** Equivalence: Birds of a feather flock together.
** Equivalent in French: Dis-moi qui tu hantes, je te dirai qui tu es.

* ''"Do prato à boca perde-se a sopa."
** Translation: "From plate to mouth you can lose the soup."
** Variant: "Da colher à boca perde-se a sopa."
** "Translation: "You can lose the soup from the spoon to the mouth".
** Equivalence. It ain't over 'till it's over.
** Equivalence: There's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip.
** Equivalence in French: Il y a loin de la coupe aux lèvres.

* ''"Dois olhos vêem mais do que um só."
** Translation: "Two eyes see better than only one."

* ''"Dos males o menor."''
** Translation: "From (a number of possible) evil, (that was) the less."
** Variant: ''"Do mal o menos"''.
** Meaning: That was bad, but worse things could have happened.
** Meaning: The lesser of two evils

* ''"Duro com duro não faz bom muro."
** Translation: "Hard with hard doesn't make a good wall."
** Meaning: Two strong people together don't bring cohesion but dissension.

==E==

* ''"É como trocar seis por meia dúzia."''
** Translation: "It's like exchanging six for half a dozen."
** Used to complain against a change without practical results.

* ''"É difícil agradar a Gregos e Troianos."
** Translation: It´s hard to please both Greeks and Trojans.
** Variation: "Não se pode agradar a Gregos e a Troianos".
** Translation: You can't please both Greeks and Trojans.
** Meaning: You can't please everybody.
** Equivalence: You can't have it both ways.

* ''É mais fácil apanhar um mentiroso do que um coxo"''
** Translation: "It's easier to catch a liar than a limping person"
** Usage: About liars uncovered, or when you suspect you're going to uncover one.

* ''"Em Abril águas mil."
** Translation: "In April, thousands of water."
** Meaning: A weather proverb: it usually rains a lot in April in Portugal.

* ''"Em boca fechada não entra mosca."''
** Translation: "A fly won't get into a closed mouth."
** Know when to keep quiet.
** Equivalent: A closed mouth catches no flies.

* ''"Em casa de ferreiro, o espeto é de pau"''
** Variant: ''"Casa de ferreiro, espeto de pau"''.
** Translation: "In a blacksmith's house the skewer is made of wood"
** Equivalence: The shoemaker's children have no shoes.
** Equivalence in french: Les cordonniers sont toujours les plus mal chaussés.

* ''Em casa de gente pobre, cada vida vale um cobre"''
** Translation: "In poor peoples' houses, each life is worth (nothing more than) a penny"

* ''"Em pouco muito se diz."''
** Translation: In little much can be said.

* ''"Em rio que tem piranha, macaco bebe água de canudinho."'' (Brazil)
** Translation: "In a piranha infested river, monkeys drink water using a straw."
** Variation: "Em rio que tem piranha, jacaré nada de costas."'' (Brazil)
** Translation: "In a piranha infested river, alligators do backstroke swimming."
** Meaning: Be careful in risky situations.

* ''"Em tempo de guerra não se limpam armas."
** Translation: "During war you don't clean your weapons."
** Meaning: No time for the usual things in a strong situation.

* ''"Em terra de cegos, quem tem um olho é rei."''
** Variant: ''"Em terra de cegos, quem tem olho é rei."''
** Equivalence: "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."
** Equivalence in french: Au royaume des aveugles, les borgnes sont rois.

* ''"Ele a dar-lhe e a burra a mijar para trás."''
** Translation: He keeps hitting her and the [female] donkey keeps pissing backwards.
** Usage: When a person has been frequently corrected about an error but doesn't change

* ''"Enquanto o pau vai e vem folgam as costas."''
** Translation: while the stick comes and goes the back is at rest.
** Meaning: In between difficult situations you can have some rest.

* ''"Entradas de leão, saídas de cordeiro"''.
** Translation: Lion entries, lamb's exits.
** Usage: About someone who enters a situation strongly and defiantly and exits it humbly.

* ''"Entre mortos e feridos alguem há-de escapar."''
** Translation: Among the dead and the wounded someone will get out [unscathed]
** Meaning: In spite of the disastrous situation someone or something will still not suffer damage

* ''"Errar é humano; perdoar é divino."''
** Equivalence: "To err is human; to forgive, divine." (Pline)
** Latin: Errare humanum est
** Equivalence in french: L'erreur est humaine.

* ''"Errar é humano; insistir no erro é burrice."''
** Translation: "To make a error is human; pushing the same error is dumb."
** Latin: Errare humanum est, (sed) perseverare diabolicum.
** Equivalence in french: L'erreur est humaine, mais persévérer est diabolique.

* ''"Esta vida são dois dias e o Carnaval são três."''
** Translation: This life last two days and the Carnival lasts three
** Meaning: Enjoy life. "Don't worry, be happy."

==F==

* ''"Faça o que eu digo, não faça o que eu faço."''
** Translation: "Do as I say, not as I do."
** Used mainly by parents to reinforce telling their childen to obey without setting the example (ex. telling children to go to bed before they do)
** Variation: "Sermão do Frei Tomás: faz o que ele diz, não faças o que ele faz."
** Translation: "Friar Thomas sermon: do what he says, don't do what he does."
f** Equivalence in french: Faites ce que je dis, pas ce que je fais.

* ''"Fala no mau que ele sempre aparece."''
** Translation: Speak of the Evil and he'll always pop up.
** Usage: When someone you're talking about pops up unexpectedly. Usually shortened to "Fala no mau...", or modified into "Não pode ser boa pessoa!", "You can't be a good person!".
** Equivalence: Speak of the devil and he's sure to appear.
** Equivalence in french: Quand on parle du loup... (on en voit la queue).

* ''"Faz o bem sem olhares a quem."''
** Translation: Do good without looking at whom.
** Note: a frequent motto for voluntary firemen.

* ''"Feliz ao jogo, infeliz aos amores."''
** Translation: Lucky at gambling, unlucky at love.
** Meaning: You can't have it all.
** Meaning: Something good, something bad.
** Equivalence in french: Chance au jeu, malchance en amour.

* ''"Ferro que não se usa, gasta-o a ferrugem."
** Translation: "Unused iron is ruined by rust."
** Meaning: if you don't use it you lose it.

* ''"Festa acabada, músicos a pé."
** Translation: "Party over, musicians by foot."

* ''"Fia-te na Virgem e não corras, verás o trambolhão que levas."
** Translation: "Trust the virgin [Mary] and don't run and you'll see the stumble you'll get."
** Meaning: Don't trust in chance and wait for things to happen; be alert and act. Or else.

* ''"Fica tudo como dantes: quartel-general em Abrantes."''
** Translation: Everything stays as it was, headquarters at Abrantes.
** Meaning: after all this work, things stay the same.
** Usage: When after much deciding the decision is to stay as it was, or go back to a previous position

* ''"Filho de peixe sabe nadar."
** Translation: "Fish's child knows how to swim."
** Variation: "Filho de peixe, peixinho é."
** Translation: "The son of a fish is a little fish."
** Equivalence: Like father, like son.

* ''"Filhos criados, trabalhos dobrados."
** Translation: "Raised children, doubled work."

* ''"Filho és pai serás, assim como/conforme fizeres assim receberás/acharás."''
** Translation: you're a son, you'll be a father, as you'll do so you'll get

* ''"Fui a casa da vizinha envergonhei-me, vim para a minha remediei-me."''
** Translation: I went to my neighbor's house and was ashamed of myself, I got back to mine and made do with what I had.

==G==

* ''Gaba-te, cesta, que vais à vindima."''
** Translation: Praise yourself, basket, you're going to grape collecting
** Usage: About someone praising himself. Usually condensed into "Gaba-te, cesta"

* ''"Gaba-te, cesto, que vender-te quero."''
** Translation: Praise yourself, basket, for I want to sell you

* ''"Gaivotas em terra, tempestade no mar."
** Variant: Gaivotas em terra é sinal de tempestade.
** Translation: "Gulls on land, storm at the sea."
** Usage: When you see someone who usually you don't see, and that means trouble is going on somewhere.

* ''"Geada na lama, água na cama."
** Translation: "Frost on the mud, water on the bed."

* ''"Gato escondido com o rabo de fora."''
** Translation: "A cat that is hidden with its tail showing [out of the hidding place]."
** Used to confront someone with a big plot to hide something, but with a small detail that compromises the entire thing.

* ''"Gordura é formosura, magreza é beleza."''
** Translation: Plumpness is prettiness, thinness is beauty
** Meaning: All women are beautiful.

* ''"Grandes caminhadas, grandes mentiras."
** Translation: "Big walks, big lies."

* ''"Grandes peixes pescam-se em grandes rios."
** Translation: "Big fish are fished for in big rivers."

* ''"Grão a grão enche a galinha o papo"
** Translation: "Grain by grain the hen fills the crop."
** Meaning: Little by little and over time, you'll get your profit, satisfaction, etc.

* ''"Guarda que fazer e não guardes de comer, que o comer azeda-se e o trabalho não."''
** Translation: Keep something to do but not something to eat, for food will turn sour but work won't

* ''"Guardado está o bocado para quem o há de comer."''
** Translation: The piece is kept for whom it is given to eat.
** Usage: About someone or something you want to "eat", haven't managed to yet, but are sure to get.

==H==

* ''"Há mais marés que marinheiros."''
** Translation: There are more tides than sailors.
** Meaning: Don't despair upon this lost opportunity, you'll have another, or I'll have another.
** Equivalence: There are plenty more fish in the sea.

* ''"Há males que vêm por bem."''
** Translation: "There are bad things that come for the good."

* ''"Há remédio para tudo menos para a morte."''
** Translation: There's a remedy to everything but death.
** Meaning: Only death is final, all other problems have solutions.

* ''"Homem pequenino, velhaco ou dançarino."
** Variant: Homem pequenino é sacana ou bailarino.
** Translation: "Small man, sly or dancer."
** Usage: About a small man you get distrustful of, or expect deceit from. Implied in "Aquele não dança", "That one doesn't dance", said about a small man.

* ''"Homem prevenido vale por dois."''
** Equivalence: Forewarned, forearmed.
** Equivalence in French: Un homme averti en vaut deux.

* ''"Hora a hora, Deus melhora."''
** Translation: Hour by hour, God improves.
** Meaning: With time everything will get better.

==I==

* ''"Infeliz no jogo, feliz no amor."''
** Translation: "Unlucky in gambling, lucky in love."

==J==

* ''"Junta-te aos bons e serás como eles; junta-te aos maus e serás pior que eles. "''
** Translation: Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.
** Meaning: watch who you go around with.

==L==

* ''"Ladrão não rouba a ladrão."''
** Translation: A thief doesn't rob a thief.

* ''"Ladrão que rouba ladrão tem cem anos de perdão."
** Translation: "Thief who steals from a thief has one hundred years of pardon."

* ''"Lembra aos rapazes o que ao diabo esquece."''
** Translation: Boys come up with things even the Devil forgot.
** Meaning: Boys come up with extraordinary things.

* ''"Lenha verde pouco acende, e quem muito dorme pouco aprende."''
** Translation: Green logs hardly burn, and he who sleeps too much hardly learns anything.

* ''"Lisboa é praça de armas, Coimbra dos estudantes, Porto dos mercadores, Vila Real dos amantes."''
** Translation: "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisbon Lisbon] is plaza of weapons, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coimbra Coimbra] of the students, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porto Porto] of the merchants, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vila_Real,Portugal Vila Real] of the lovers."

* ''"Lobo não come lobo."
** Translation: "Wolf doesn't eat wolf."
** Equivalence in french: Les loups ne se mangent pas entre eux.

* ''"Louvor em boca própria é vitupério."
** Translation: "Praise in own mouth is insult."

==M==

* ''"Macaco velho não mete a mão em cumbuca."'' (Brazil)
** Translation: "An old monkey will not stick his hand into a jar (where it is liable to get stuck)."
** The older are not likely to make the mistakes of the young. This refers to the story “how to catch a monkey” and the moral of that story is the monkey’s inability to delay gratification leads him to getting trapped by the jar.

* ''"Mais depressa se apanha um mentiroso que um coxo."''
** Translation: You catch a liar faster than you catch a limping person.
** Meaning: Don't lie, you'll be caught.

* ''"Mais vale cair em graça do que ser engraçado."''
** Translation: It's better to fall in good grace than to be graceful.

* ''"Mais vale sê-lo que parecê-lo."''
** Translation: It's better to be [that] than to seem so.

* ''"Mais vale só que mal acompanhado."''(Portugal)
* ''"Antes só que mal acompanhado."''(Brazil)
** Translation: "Rather alone than in bad company."
** Usage: When someone is alone, or when someone prefers to evade someone else even if it implies going alone.

* ''"Mais vale um gosto do que seis vinténs."
** Translation: "It´s better (to satisfy) a taste, than (to keep) sixpence."
** Variant: ''"Mais vale um gosto na vida que seis vinténs na algibeira."''
** Translation: Rather (have) a pleasure in life than sixpence in the pocket.
** Meaning: You can spend some money on what really pleases you instead of being miserable and regret not having had it (and keep boring us stiff with that).
** Comment: This is encouraging immediate gratification, refer to ‘how to catch a monkey’ above.

* ''"Mais vale um mau acordo que uma boa sentença."''
** Translation: A bad agreement [out of the court] is better than a good verdict.
** Usage: About court judgements.

* ''"Mais vale um 'toma' do que dois 'te darei'."
** Translation: "It's better one 'Take this' than two 'I'll give it to you'." Similar to “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”.
** Equivalence in french: Un tiens vaut mieux que deux tu l’auras.

* ''"Mais vale uma palavra antes que duas depois."''
** Translation: A word before is better than two after.
** Meaning: It's better to instruct than to correct.

* ''"Mal de muitos consolo é."
** Translation: "The misfortune of many is a consolation".

* ''"Mal por mal, venha o Diabo e escolha."''
** Translation: Evil for evil, let the Devil come and choose.
** Usage: When your stuck among bad solutions you can't choose from and give up choosing.

* ''"Manda quem pode, obedece quem deve."''
** Translation: Who can commands, who must obeys.
** Meaning: You heard the man, now do it.
** Usage: Assertion of a command chain by underlings.

* ''"Mãos frias, coração quente."''
** Translation: Cold hands, hot heart.
** Usage: Said about people with cold hands, usually implying tenderness towards that person.

* ''"Mente sã em corpo são."''
** From the Latin, mens sana in corpore sano.
** Translation: "A healthy mind in a healthy body".
** Translation in french: Un esprit sain dans un corps sain.

* ''"Mesa sem pão é mesa de vilão."''
** Translation: A table without bread is a villain's table.
** Usage: Of a table in which bread is absent.

* ''"Minha casa, minha casinha - merda para o rei e para a rainha".''
** Translation : "My home, my small home - (it's) shit to the king and to the queen".
** It does not matter how humble one's house is. It is always one's home.

* ''"Mordedura de cão cura-se com o pêlo do mesmo cão."''
** Translation: A dog's bite is cured with the same dog's hair.
** Meaning: similia similibus curantur, similar things cure the evils caused by one of them.
** Usage: Encouraging a person to keep on in spite of having suffered a mishap.

* ''"Morra Marta, morra farta."''
** Translation: Let Marta die, let her have plenty.
** Meaning: Give up your scruples and have as much as you can.
** Usage: When you give up on abstaining from something and go off on a binge, no matter what

* ''"Morrer por morrer, morra o meu pai que é mais velho."''
** Translation: If it's just a matter of someone dying, then let my father die, as he's older.

* ''"Morreu o bicho, acabou-se a peçonha."''
** Translation: The animal is dead, the venom has finished.
** Meaning: We got finally rid of that venomous person and we can breathe much better now.

* ''"Mudam-se os tempos, mudam-se as vontades."''
** Translation: times change, wills change
** Meaning: even important ideas change with time.

* ''"Muita parra e pouca uva."''
** Translation: Too many vine leaves and too few grapes.
** Meaning: Too many unsubstantial things and too few useful ones.
** Meaning: Too much talk, too little facts.

* ''"Muito alcança quem não cansa."''
** Translation: He who doesn't tire achieves much.

* ''"Muito esquece a quem não sabe."''
** Translation: Much is forgotten by those who don't know.
** Usage: About people who don't know and excuse themselves with lack of memory.

* ''"Muito riso, pouco siso."
** Translation: "Much laughter, little wisdom".

* ''"Mulher doente, mulher para sempre."''
** Translation: A sick woman is forever.
** Usage: About women who keep complaining about small aches.

* ''"Mulher feia é casta por natureza."''
** Translation: The ugly woman is chaste by her own nature.
** Meaning: You aren't that virtuous if your own natural compels you not to sin.

==N==

* ''"Não há bela sem senão nem feia sem sua graça."
** Translation: "There´s no female beauty without imperfection nor ugly woman without her beauty."
** Meaning: Nothing is flawless and nothing is completely uninteresting.

* ''"Não há luar mais bonito que o de agosto."
** Translation: "No better moonshine than in august."

* ''"Não há rosas sem espinhos"''
** Translation: There are no roses without thorns.

* ''"Não faças aos outros o que não gostas que te façam a ti"''
** Translation: "Don't do to others what you wouldn't like to be done to you."

* ''"Não sabendo que era impossível, foi lá e fez."
** Translation: "Not knowing twas impossible, he went (there) and did it."

* ''"Não se deve despir um santo para vestir outro."
** Translation: "Don´t undress one saint to dress another."
** Meaning: “Don’t rob Peter to pay Paul.”

* ''"Não ponhas a carroça à frente dos bois."''
** Translation: "Don't put the cart before the oxen."
** Equivalence: "Don't put the cart before the horse."
** Equivalence in French: Il ne faut pas mettre la charrue avant les bœufs.

* ''"Não se pode ter sol na eira e chuva no nabal."''
** Translation: You can't have sun in the treshing floor (?) and rain in the turnip field.
** Meaning: You can have it one way or the other, but not both.
** Equivalence: "You can't have your cake and eat it too."

* ''"Navegar é preciso, viver não é preciso."''
** Translation: "To sail is necessary, to live is not necessary."
** Other Translation: "To sail is very precise, to live is not quite so."
** Origin: Latin ''"Navigare necesse; vivere non est necesse"'', Pompeus, Roman General, quoted by Plutarch, when his soldiers were refusing to proceed on aea journey; revived by Fernando Pessoa, and popularized in a song by a well-known Brazilian singer and composer Caetano Veloso in the music "Os Argonautas".

* ''"Nem só de pão vive o homem."
** Translation: "Not only of bread lives a man".
** Equivalence: "Man does not live on bread alone."

* ''"Ninguém é profeta na sua terra."
** Translation: "No one is a prophet in his own land".
** Equivalence in French: Nul n’est prophète en son pays.

* ''"Notícia ruim vem a cavalo."''
** Translation: "Bad news come on horseback."
** Equivalence: "Bad news travels quickly."

* ''"Novos tempos, novos costumes."
** Translation: "New times, new habits."
** Equivalence in French: Autres temps, autres moeurs.

* ''"Nunca digas 'desta água não beberei'."''
** Translation: "Never say 'from this water I shall not drink'."
** Equivalence: "Never say never."
** Equivalence in French: Il ne faut jamais dire "Fontaine je ne boirai pas de ton eau".

==O==

* ''"O amor é cego."''
** Translation: "Love is blind."

* ''"O bom filho à casa torna."''
** Translation: The good son returns home.
** Meaning: People and things always come back where they belong.
** Note: Although in the present, the phrase speaks in the future.

* ''"O bom médico é o do terceiro dia."''
** Translation: The good physician is the one of the third day.
** Meaning: As most diseases only assume their best-known form by the third day or later, physicians from the previous days tend not to have much to diagnose with; hence, the third day doctor is the first to make the right diagnosis.
** Note: Medical proverb.

* ''"O calado é o melhor."''
** Translation: The silent guy is the best.
** Meaning: In this situation, the best is to say nothing.
** note: As Calado is also a common surname, this allows for some jokes.

* ''"O comer e o coçar estão no começar."''
** Translation: Eating and scratching are in the beginning.
** Meaning: There are things you don't want to stop doing after you begin.

* ''"O crime não compensa."''
** Translation: "Crime doesn't pay."

* ''"O cu não tem nada a ver com as calças."''
** Translation: The ass has nothing to do with the pants.
** Usage: When you want to stress that two things are unrelated, even if they pop up in the same conversation topic.
** Note: contains profanity.

* ''"O Diabo não é tão mau como o pintam."''
** Translation: The Devil isn't as bad as they portray him.
** Meaning: It's not as bad as they say.

* ''"O dinheiro fez-se para se contar."''
** Translation: Money was made to be counted.
** Usage: When you want to insist that someone counts the money you give him in front of you.

* ''"O dinheiro fez-se para se gastar."''
** Translation: Money is meant to be spent.

* ''"O dinheiro não nasce nas árvores."''
** Translation: "Money doesn't sprout on trees."
** Usage: To people who want you to spend money you dont want to spend.
** Usage: To people who spend money foolishly.

* ''"O dinheiro não traz felicidade."''
** Translation: "Money doesn't bring happiness."
** Cynical variant: O dinheiro não dá a felicidade, mas ajuda muito.
** Translation: Money doesn't bring happiness, but it does help a lot to it.

* ''"O gato comeu-te a língua?"''(Portugal)
** Translation: The cat ate your tongue?
** Variation: ''"O gato mordeu a tua língua?"''(Brazil)
** Translation: "The cat bit your tongue?"
** Said to someone who suddenly becomes mute.
** Equivalence: "Cat got your tongue?"
** Note: This is an expression, not a proverb.

* ''"O futuro a Deus pertence."''
** Translation: The future belongs to God.
** Meaning: You can't know about the future, so stop counting on it.

* ''"O hábito é uma segunda Natureza."
** Translation: "Custom is a second nature."

* ''"O hábito não faz o monge."''
** Translation: "The habit doesn't make the monk."
** Equivalence: "Clothes don't make the man."
** Equivalence in French: L'habit ne fait pas le moine.

* ''"O Homem põe e Deus dispõe."
** Translation: "What man can do, God can undo"
** Equivalence: "The best laid plans of mice and men."

* ''"O lume ao pé da estopa o diabo lhe sopra."''
** Translation: The devil will blow upon fire near oakum.
** Meaning: If you create risky situations (such as leaving alone two teenagers of opposite sex) you will have the expectable result.

* ''"O mal dos outros é consolo de parvos."''
** Translation: "The distress of others is the solace of idiots."
** Meaning: Feeling better by knowing that the other is worse is not very clever.

* ''"O olho do dono é que engorda o cavalo."
** Translation: "The owner´s eye fattens the horse".

* ''"O Português é uma língua muito traiçoeira."
** Translation: Portuguese is a very treacherous language.
** Usage: When someone makes a mistake, usually allowing for a funny (and/or embarassing) second interpretation.

* ''"O mal está nos olhos de quem o vê."''
** Translation: The evil is in the eyes of who sees it.
** Meaning: If you criticize others, you aren't very good yourself.
** Meaning: Only you consider that an evil.

* ''"O melão e a mulher conhecem-se pelo rabo."''
** Translation: Melons and women are known by their asses.
** Meaning: About the habit of poking a melon in a given point in order to assess its ripeness.
** Note: Knowledge, here, is usually not in the biblical sense.
** Note: A bit rude. Contains slang.

* ''"O óptimo é inimigo do bom."''
** Translation: The very best is the ennemy of the good.
** Meaning: If you only want the very best you will lose all that's just good.

* ''"O pior cego é aquele que não quer ver."''
** Translation: "The worst blind is the one who doesn't want to see."
** Equivalent in French: Il n'est pire aveugle que celui qui ne veut pas voir.
** See also: Antes cegues que mal vejas.

* ''"O pote tanto vai à bica que um dia fica."
** Variant: "Tantas vezes vai o cântaro à fonte que um dia se quebra."
** Translation: "The pot goes so many times to the fountain that someday it will not be back."
** Equivalence in French: Tant va la cruche à l’eau qu’à la fin elle se casse.

* ''"O primeiro milho é dos pardais."''
** Translation: The first corn is for sparrows.
** Usage: When someone lost the first opportunity for something you wanted.

* ''"O que arde, cura [e o que aperta, segura.]"''
** Translation: What burns, cures [and what is tight, holds.]
** Usage: Frequently said about alcohol, in the short form, "O que arde, cura".

* ''"O que é bom acaba depressa."''
** Translation: What is good ends quickly.

* ''"O que é doce nunca amargou."''
** Translation: What is sweet never tastes sour.

* ''"O que é nosso vem parar-nos à mão."''
** Translation: What is ours comes to our hands.

* ''"O que é um peido pra quem está cagado?"
** Translation: "What's a fart for someone who is soiled? (or shi***d)."
** Note: Obviously, contains slang.

* ''"O que não mata, engorda."''
** Translation: What doesn't kill, fattens.
** Meaning: If it doesn't harm you you'll thrive on it
** Alternative meaning: Everything's bad: it either kills or fattens (unusual)
** Usage: To a person complaining excessively of a mishap
** Usage: When you are about to have an unknown, unusual experience
** Equivalent: That which does not kill you, makes you stronger. (Nietzsche.)

* ''"O que não tem remédio remediado está."''
** Translation: What doesn't have any remedy is no longer a problem.
** Meaning: Stop fretting, things you can't fix are no longer a problem, think of those you can fix.

* ''"O que nasce torto, tarde ou nunca se endireita."(Portugal)
** Translation: "What is born crooked, late ou never gets straightened."

* ''"O que tu sabes já eu me esqueci."''
** Translation: What you know, I already forgot.
** Meaning: What you find so interesting now is something I already knew and forgot a long time ago.

* ''"O rabo é o pior de esfolar."''
** Translation: The tail is the hardest part to peel (?).
** Meaning: it's at the end that we'll get to the toughest part.

* ''"O saber não ocupa lugar."''
** Translation: Knowledge uses up no space.

* ''"O segredo é a alma do negócio."''
** Translation: Secrecy is the essence of business.

* ''"O seguro morreu de velho."''
** Translation: The safe one died of old age.
** Equivalence: Better safe than sorry.
** Note: "Seguro" being a common surname, jokes are common.

* ''"O seu a seu dono."''
** Translation: All things to their owner.
** Equivalence: To each his own.
** Equivalence in french: (Rendre) à César ce qui est à César.

* ''"O silêncio é de ouro."
** Translation: "Silence is golden."

* ''"O Sol quando nasce é para todos."
** Translation: "The Sun, when it rises, is for everybody."
** Meaning: There are things everybody is entitled to and you can't take them away.

* ''"O trabalho dá saúde."''
** Translation: Work brings health.
** Equivalence in french: Le travail c'est la santé.

* ''"O trabalho não mata ninguém."''
** Translation: Working kills nobody.

* ''"O vinho faz bem aos homens [quando são as mulheres que o bebem.]"''
** Translation: Wine is good for men [when it's women who drink it.]

* ''"Onde está galo não canta galinha."''
** Translation: Where there's a cock, hens don't crow.
** Note: About the relationship of women among themselves, and with men.

* ''"Os amigos são para as ocasiões."''
** Translation: Friends are for occasions.
** Usage: When you go to a friend to ask something.
* ''"Os extremos tocam-se."''
** Translation: Extremes touch each other.
** Meaning: Two extreme opposites are frequently similar or attracted to each other.

* ''"Os fins justificam os meios."''
** Translation: "The ends justify the means."
** Equivalence in french: La fin justifie les moyens.

* ''"Os fins não justificam os meios."''
** Translation: "Ends do not justify the means."
** Origin: a principle of Morals.

* ''"Os homens não se medem aos palmos."''
** Translation: Men aren't measured with a hand's length.
** Meaning: Small men aren't to be underestimated.
** Meaning: Big men aren't always strong and brave.

* ''"Os rios correm para o mar."
** Translation: "The rivers flow to the ocean"

* ''"Ovelha que berra, bocado que perde." (Portugal)
** Translation: "A silent man accomplishes more than an incessant talker."

==P==

* ''"Padres, primos e pombos. Os dois primeiros, não servem para casar. Os dois últimos só servem para sujar a casa."''
** Translation: "Priests, cousins and pigeons. The first two are not good to marry. The Last two, serve only to filth the house."

* ''"Paga o justo pelo pecador."''
** Translation: The just pays for the sinner.
** Meaning: Said about the injustice of general measures that penalize everybody, regardless.

* ''"Palavra de rei não volta atrás."''
** Translation: Kings don't come back on what they say.
** Meaning: I'll honor my word.

* ''"Palavras, leva-as o vento."
** Translation: "Words? The wind blow them"

* ''"Palavras loucas, ouvidos moucos."
** Translation: "Crazy words, closed ears."

* ''"Palavra puxa palavra."''
** Translation: A word brings another word.
** Usage: Said about the situation in which someone gets caught in an interesting and apparently endless conversation.

* ''"Para baixo todos os santos ajudam, para cima é que as coisas mudam."''
** Translation: Downhill all saints help, uphill things change.
** Meaning: So far things are going your way and everythings goes nicely, but soon things will change and you'll have to put effort in it and sweat it, you'll see.

* ''"Para grandes males, grandes remédios."
** Translation: "For big problems, big solutions."

* ''"Para lá do Marão mandam os que lá estão."''
** Translation: Beyond the Marão (mountains), it's those who are there are in charge.
** Meaning: You must heed local rules.

* ''"Para morrer basta estar vivo."''
** Translation: All you need to die is to be alive.
** Usage: Said to people worrying too much about death.

* ''"Para quem é, bacalhau basta."''
** Translation: Considering who it is, codfish will be enough.
** Meaning: We don't have to give our best for that person, as he'll be happy with less.

* ''"Para quem sabe ler um pingo é letra."
** Translation: "For those who can read, a dot is a letter"

* ''"Para sacana, sacana e meio."''
** Translation: For a sly bastard, a sly bastard and a half.
** Usage: About someone you intend to take revenge from, or not to trust at all, and serve him his own dish.
** Note: contains slang.

* ''"Para trás mija a burra."''
** Translation: Back is the way the female donkey pees.
** Meaning: Going back is definitely not an option.
** Note: contains slang.

* ''"Parar é morrer."''
** Translation: Stopping is dying.
** Meaning: it's not time to stop now.
** Meaning: Don't quit.

* ''"Passarinho que come pedra sabe o cu que tem."''
** Translation: A bird that eats stones, knows his own asshole.
** Meaning: If you mess with something, be sure to deal with the consequences.
** Note: contains profanity.

* ''"Patrão fora, dia santo na loja."
** Translation: "When the boss is out, is a holliday at the shop."
** Meaning: unsupervised, people will not behave responsibly.

* ''"Pelos frutos conhece-se a árvore."
** Translation: By its fruits one knows the tree.

* ''"Peixe não puxa carroça."''
** Translation: Fishes don't pull carts.
** Meaning: I'd prefer meat.

* ''"Pela aragem se vê quem vai na carruagem."''
** Translation: By the air you can see who's in the wagon.
** Meaning: You can tell things by their looks.
** Meaning: In the worst possible form: you can tell the class by the smell, no matter how disguised.

* ''"Pela boca morre o peixe."''
** Translation: The fish dies by it's mouth.
** Usage: To people saying things they shouldn't, and compromising themselves.

* ''"Perde-se o velho por não poder e o novo por não saber."''
** Translation: The old man loses for not being able, the young man for not knowing how.

* ''"Perdido por cem, perdido por mil."''
** Translation: lost by a hundred, lost by a thousand.
** Meaning: You already lost, it no longer matters by how much you'll lose any more.

* ''"Perdoa-se o mal que faz, pelo bem que sabe."''
** Translation: We forgive the bad it is for our health due to how good it tastes.

* ''"Perguntar não ofende."''
** Translation: Asking doesn't offend.

* ''"Pobrete, mas alegrete."''
** Translation: Poor, but happy.

* ''"Pimenta nos olhos dos outros é colírio (ou refresco)." ou "Pimenta no cu dos outros é mel."''
** Translation: "Pepper in someone else's eyes is eyedrops (or refreshment)." or "Pepper in someone else's ass is honey."
** As long as it's happening only to others, we're doing fine.
** One can't know how bad misfortune is until one has experienced it.

* ''"Pobreza não é vileza."
** Translation: Poverty is not evil.

* ''"Por morrer uma andorinha não acaba a primavera"''
** Variant: Por falta de uma andorinha não acaba a primavera.
** Translation: The death of a swallow doesn't bring spring to and end
** Usage: about a mishap in an otherwise excellent situation

* ''"Por muito madrugar não amanhece mais cedo."''
** Translation: However early you wake up, the sun won't rise earlier.
** Meaning: Everything on it's own time. Don't get too excited with anticipation.

* ''"Por pouca saúde, mais vale nenhuma."''
** Translation: For bad health, I'd rather have none.
** Meaning: I'd rather die than being this sick.
** Meaning: You already lost, it no longer matters by how much you'll lose any more.

* ''"Presunção e água benta, cada um toma a que quer."''
** Translation: each one helps himself of self-conceit and holy water.
** Usage: About a very self-conceited person.

==Q==

* ''"Quando a maré é de azar, o urubu de baixo caga no de cima"''
** Translation: "When it is in an unlucky phase, the vulture below, shits on the vulture above."
** Meaning: When things go wrong, even the impossible happens.

* ''"Quando Deus quer, água fria é remédio."
** Translation: God willing, [even] cold water is a medication.

* ''"Quando Deus queria do norte chovia."

* ''"Quando mija um português mijam sempre dois ou três."''
** Translation: When a portuguese pees, two or three always do it.
** Meaning: Against imitation.
** Note: Contains profanity.

* ''"Quando o mar bate na rocha quem se lixa é o mexilhão."''
** Translation: When the sea hits the rock it's the clam that gets scr*w*d.
** Meaning: About getting involved in a clash without the opponents even knowing or caring if you are there.

* ''"Quando se faz uma panela faz-se um testo para ela."''
** Translation: When you make a pan you also make a cover for it.
** Meaning: About matching people.

* ''"Quando um burro fala, os outros baixam as orelhas."
** Translation: " When a donkey speaks, the others lower their ears."
** Variant: Quando um burro fala o outro abaixa as orelhas.
** Meaning: When a person is speaking he shoudn't be interrupted.
** Usage: When someone is interrupted while speaking.

* ''"Quando um cai todos o pisam."''
** Translation: When someone falls everybody steps on him.
** Meaning: If you're down everybody will drive down even further.

* ''"Quanto maior a nau maior a tormenta."''
** Translation: The bigger the ship, the bigger the storm.
** See: A grande nau grande tormenta.

* ''"Quanto mais alto se sobe de mais alto se cai."''
** Translation: The higher you get, the bigger the fall is.

* ''"Quanto mais choras, menos mijas."''
** Translation: The more you cry, the less you pee.
** Usage: When you no longer listen to someone who is crying.
** Note: Contains profanity.

* ''"Quanto mais se ganha, mais se gasta."''
** Translation: The more you earn, the more you spend.

* ''"Que bem prega Frei Tomás: façam o que ele diz, e não o que ele faz."''
** Translation: How well does Brother Thomas preach; do what he says, not what he does.
** Meaning: About people who give advice but don't follow it.

* ''"Quem acha guarda."''
** Translation: Who finds keeps.
** Equivalence: Finder's keeper.

* ''"Quem anda de boca aberta, ou entra mosca ou sai asneira."''
** Translation: [To] who goes about with open mouth, either a fly gets in or a silly thing gets out.
** Meaning: Close your mouth.

* ''"Quem ao mais alto quer subir, ao mais baixo vem cair."''
** Translation: Who wants to climb to the highest will fall to the lowest.
** Variation: "Quanto mais alto se sobe, maior é a queda"

* ''"Quem avisa amigo é."
** Variant: Quem te avisa teu amigo é.
** Translation: He who warns you is a friend.

* ''"Quem ama o feio, bonito lhe parece."
** Translation: Who loves the ugly finds it beautiful.
** Meaning: Love makes ugly things beautiful.
** Meaning: Ugly things are loved by those who find them beautiful.
** Equivalence: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
*** Common derivation of the above in Portuguese: ''A beleza está nos olhos de quem a vê''

* ''"Quem anda à chuva, molha-se."
** Translation: "Who walks in the rain gets wet"
* ''"Quem sai na chuva, é para se molhar." (Brazil)
** Translation: "Who is in the rain is supposed to get wet"
** Meaning: You took that risk, now you suffer a well know consequence, so don't complain.

* ''"Quem bem vive bem morre."''
** Translation: Who lives well dies well.

* ''"Quem brinca com o fogo queima-se."''
** Translation: Who plays with fire gets burnt.
** Meaning: If you are going to do risky things you must expect damage.

* ''"Quem cabritos vende e cabras não tem, de algures lhe vem."''
** Translation: [To] who sells kids and has no female goats, they're likely to come from somewhere.
** Usage: If you see someone sporting or doing something you know he can't possibly afford.

* ''"Quem cala consente."
** Translation: "Who remains silent agrees.”

* ''"Quem canta seus males espanta."
** Translation: Those who sing send their troubles away.

* ''"Quem casa quer casa."
** Translation: Those who marries want a home.

* ''"Quem chega primeiro é o primeiro a aviar-se."''
** Translation: Who gest first is the first to help himself.
** Equivalence: First come, first served.

* ''"Quem conta um conto acrescenta um ponto."''
** Translation: "He who tells a tale adds a tail."
** Meaning: When reporting to others things that have happened, people tend to add to it instead of telling it exactly like it happened (or they were told), or tell it their own way.

* ''"Quem come a carne que roa os ossos."
** Translation: "He who wants meat, has to eat also the bones."
** Variant: Quem lhe comeu a carne que lhe roa os ossos.
** Meaning: Who got the good part must have the bad part too now, not leave it to others.
** Usage: About someone who was in for the good times and prepares to flee the bad ones.

* ''"Quem com ferro mata, com ferro morre."
** Variant: ''"Quem com ferro fere, com ferro será ferido."
** Translation: "He who kills with iron, dies by iron"
** Meaning: Who acts violently will suffer violence.
** Equivalence: He who lives by the sword dies by the sword. (New Testament.)

* ''"Quem com porcos se mistura farelos come."
** Translation: Who goes around with pigs eats bran.
** Meaning: Wo goes about with some companies either is like them or will so become.

* ''"Quem corre por gosto, não cansa."
** Translation: Who runs for pleasure never gets tired.
** Usage: Of people who work (or something else) without ever getting tired because they like what they do.

* ''"Quem dá aos pobres empresta a Deus."
** Translation: Who gives to the poor lends to God.

* ''"Quem dá e torna a tirar, ao Inferno vai parar."''
** Translation: Who gives and takes back goes to Hell.
** Meaning: Don't ask back what you gave.

* ''"Quem dá o que tem a mais não é obrigado."''
** Translation: Who gives what he has can't be asked to give more.
** Usage: If after giving something you are asked to give more.

* ''"Quem dá o que tem a pedir vem."''
** Translation: Who gives what he has ends up begging.
** Meaning: Too much generosity isn't good for you and can make you a burden to others.

* ''"Quem depressa foi depressa torna."''
** Translation: Who went away fast comes back fast.

* ''"Quem desdenha quer comprar."
** Translation: Who disdains wants to buy.
** Usage: About haggling. About putting down something you want after all.

* ''"Quem é amigo de todos não o é de ninguém."''
** Translation: Who is friends to everybody is a friend of nobody.

* ''"Quem é vivo sempre aparece."
** Translation: He who is alive always shows up.
** Variation: " Não morres tão cedo."(Brazil)
** Translation: "You won't die that soon".
** Usage: Said to those who show up a moment after their name comes up in a conversation.
** Usage: Said to someone you didn't see for a long time and pops up unexpectedly.

* ''"Quem empresta não melhora."''
** Translation: Who lends doesn't improve.
** Meaning: You can't help people by lending them money or something else.

* ''"Quem escuta, de si ouve."''
** Translation: Who listens hears about himself.
** Meaning: Don't go about listening, you are likely to hear about yourself.

* ''"Quem espera por sapatos de defunto toda a vida anda descalço."''
** Translation: Who waits for the shoes of a dead man will go barefoot all his life.
** Meaning: Count only with what you have, not upon future gains.
** Equivalence: Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.
** Equivalence in French: Il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l'ours avant de l'avoir tué.

* ''"Quem espera sempre alcança."
** Translation: "Who waits, always achieves"

* ''"Quem estiver mal que se mude."''
** Translation: Who doesn't feel well [here] must move.

* ''"Quem faz o pino, vê o mundo mais direito."
** Translation: "Who handstands, sees the world straighter."

* ''"Quem gasta mais do que tem, mostra que siso não tem."
** Translation: "Who spends more than they have, shows lack of wisdom."

* ''"Quem guarda com fome, vem o rato e come."''
** Translation: "He who stores (food), albeit being hungry, the rat will come and eat it(the food)."
** Meaning: Unused wealth is lost wealth

* ''"Quem mais jura mais mente."''
** Translation: Who most swears lies the most.

* ''"Quem mais pode mais deve."''
** Translation: Those who can more owe more.
** Meaning: If you can do a lot, then you have more serious obligations.

* ''"Quem mais tem mais quer."
** Translation: "Those who have more, want even more."

* ''"Quem mal ceia, toda a noite esperneia."
** Translation: Who doesn't have enough supper is restless all night.

* ''"Quem muito escolhe, ao mais ruim se apega."''
** Translation: Who gets too picky ends up with the worst.

* ''"Quem muito espera desespera."''
** Translation: Who waits too long despairs.

* ''"Quem muito fala pior ouve."''
** Translation: Who talks a lot listens even worse.

* ''"Quem muito fala pouco acerta."''
** Translation: Who talks a lot is seldom right.

* ''"Quem nada não se afoga."''
** Translation: Who swims doesn't drown.
** Meaning: If you'e knowledgeable about the matter you will not suffer the consequences others would.

* ''"Quem não chora não mama."''
** Translation: "Who doesn't cry doesn't suckle."
** Equivalence: "The squeaky wheel gets the grease".

* ''"Quem não come por ter comido, o mal não é de perigo."''
** Translation: It's no big problem if someone doesn't eat for having eaten before.

* ''"Quem não deve não teme."
** Translation: "Who owes nothing has nothing to fear."

* ''"Quem não pode andar a cavalo anda a pé."''
** Translation: Who can't ride horseback goes on foot.
** See: ''"Quem não tem cão caça com gato."
** Meaning: I'll get there anyway, even if I take longer.
** Equivalent:
** Equivalent in French: Faute de grives, on mange des merles.

* ''"Quem não pode arreia."''
** Translation: Who can't stand any more puts down the load.
** Usage: For people who keep saying they can't stand something.

* ''"Quem não sabe é como quem não vê."''
** Translation: He who doesn't know is as if one who can't see.
** Meaning: Ignorance is like blindness
** Meaning: Some things are better not known.

* ''"Quem não sabe nada não tem dúvidas."''
** Translation: Who doesn't know a thing has no doubts.

* ''"Quem não sabe nadar vai ao fundo."''
** Translation: Who can't swim sinks.

* ''"Quem não se sente, não é filho de boa gente."''
** Translation: Who doesn't feel isn't a good people's son.
** Usage: Mostly about a necessary reaction to insults and supposed insults you are expected to answer to.

* ''"Quem não tem cão caça com gato."
** Translation: If you don't have a dog, you hunt with a cat.
** Translation: Who has no dog hunts with a cat.
** Meaning: Make do with what you have at hand.

* ''"Quem não tem dinheiro não tem vícios."''
** Translation: Who has no money has no bad habits.
** Meaning: If you want to keep your bad habits it's up to you to pay for them.

* ''"Quem não tem panos não arma tendas."''
** Translation: Who has no cloth doesn't set up tents.

* ''"Quem não tem unhas não toca guitarra."''
** Translation: Who doesn't have nails doesn't play the guitar.
** Variant: ''"Quem tem unhas é que toca guitarra."''
** Translation: Only those who have nails play the guitar.
** Variant: ''"Quem tem unhas que toque guitarra."''
** Translation: Let those who have nails play the guitar.
** Meaning: Who doesn't have what it takes [personal qualities and skills] can't do it.

* ''"Quem não trabalha não come."''
** Variant: ''"Quem não trabuca não manduca."''
** Translation: Who doesn't work doesn't eat.
** Origin: Biblical (Deuteronomy?)

* ''"Quem nasce para a merda nunca chega a cagalhão".''
** Translation: "Those born to be small shit never make it to turd.".

* ''"Quem nasce para vintém, nunca chega a tostão".''
** Translation: "Those who are born to pennies never makes it to pounds".

* ''"Quem nasce torto tarde ou nunca se endireita."''
** Translation: Who is born crooked late or never straightens up.
** See: ''"O que nasce torto, tarde ou nunca se endireita."''

* ''"Quem nasceu para a forca não morre afogado."''
** Translation: Who is born for the gallows won't drown.

* ''"Quem nasceu para burro nunca chega a cavalo."''
** Translation: Who was born to be a donkey never makes it to horse.
** Note: ''"Burro"'' in Portuguese means ''"donkey"'' as well as ''"stupid"''.

* ''"Quem nunca comeu melado, quando come, lambuza-se."
** Translation: "Who never ate honey, when eating it, soils himself."

* ''"Quem o alheio veste, na praça o despe."
** Translation: Who dresses other undresses them in the marketplace.
** Meaning: The people who help you are the first to talk badly about you in public.

* ''"Quem paga adiantado é mal servido."''
** Translation: Who pays in advance is badly served.

* ''"Quem parte e reparte e não fica com a melhor parte, ou é tolo ou não tem arte."''
** Translation: Who splits and distributes but doesn't keep the best share [for himself] is either dumb or has no craft.

* ''"Quem parte velho paga novo."''
** Translation: Who breaks old pays new.
** Meaning: Who damages an old object pays for a new one.

* ''"Quem pensa, não casa; quem casa não pensa"''
** Translation: "Who thinks doesn't marry; who marries does not think"

* ''"Quem primeiro se queixa foi quem atirou a ameixa."''
** Translation: Who complains first it who threw the plum.
** Meaning: The first one to complain is frequently the author of the deed himself, trying to shift attention.
** Equivalence (Amer.): He who smelt it, dealt it.

* ''"Quem pode o mais pode o menos."
** Translation: Who can do big can do small.

* ''"Quem porfia mata a caça."
** Translation: Who doesn't quit gets game.
** Equivalence: All things come to those who can wait.
** Equivalence: Every dog has his day.

* ''"Quem procura sempre acha, se não um prego, uma tacha."''
** Translation: Who searches always finds; if not a nail, a tack.
** Meaning: If you don't look for what you want you won't find it.
** Meaning: People looking for something will come up with a finding, even if it's not exactly what they were looking for.

* ''"Quem promete deve."''
** Translation: Who makes a promise owes something.
** Equivalent in French: Chose promise, chose due.

* ''"Quem promete não cumpre."''
** Translation: Who promises [too much] doesn't honor his promises.

* ''"Quem quer vai, quem não quer fica."''
** Translation: Who wants to go, goes; who wants to stay, stays.
** Usage: When it's time to go and there are undecided people.

* ''"Quem quer vai, quem não quer manda."
** Translation: " Those who want to go, go themselves. Those who don't, send others instead."
** Variant: ''"Quem quer faz, quem não quer manda."''
** Translation: Who wants [something] does it himself, those who don't have it done.
** Meaning: People with a real interest take care of the subject themselves; not so those who haven't.

* ''"Quem sabe faz, quem não sabe ensina."''
** Translation: He who knows, does; he who doesn't, teaches.

* ''"Quem sabe, sabe. Quem não sabe, aprende."
** Translation: He who knows, knows. He who doesn't know, learns.

* ''"Quem sai aos seus não degenera."
** Translation: Who comes out similar to his own didn't degenerate.
** Meaning: from a given kind you should expect similar offspring.

* ''"Quem se mete em atalhos mete-se em trabalhos."''
** Translation: Who gets into shortcuts gets into trouble.
** Meaning: Using supposedly faster ways of doing a something can give more work than the traditional way.

* ''"Quem semeia ventos colhe tempestades."
** Translation: He who plants winds harvests storms.
** Meaning: the wrong things you do/say will come back to you even worse. Usually about plots and intrigue.
** Approximate equivalent: What goes around comes around.

* ''"Quem te cobre que te descubra."''
** Translation: Let he who covers you uncover/discover you.

* ''"Quem tem boca não manda soprar."
** Translation: Who has a mouth doesn't order to blow.

* ''"Quem tem boca vai a Roma."
** Translation: "If you have a mouth, you can go to Rome".
** Meaning: Ask for directions as you go (be it travel or a process lenghty to explain).

* ''"Quem tem calos não se mete em apertos."''
** Translation: Who has corns doesn't get himself into tight/crowded places.
** Meaning: You knew you had that fragility, so you knew better than getting into a situation in which it hurt you.

* ''"Quem tem capa sempre escapa."''
** Translation: Who has a cloak always gets away.
** Meaning: Who has a protection always evades punishment.
** Meaning: Who is lucky avoids the worst consequences of risky situations.

* ''"Quem tem cu tem medo."''
** Translation: Who has an ass has fear.
** Meaning: Who, like everybody, has a fragile spot, is afraid.
** Meaning: Everybody feels fear, or can be afraid sometimes.
** Note: Contains profanity.

* ''"Quem tem filhos tem cadilhos."''
** Translation: Who has sons has problems.

* ''"Quem tem pressa vai andando."
** Translation: Who is in a hurry should get going [by foot].
** Usage: To people complaining that "we're getting late" but won't leave either.

* ''"Quem tenta um pouco de tudo consegue muito de nada".''
** Translation: "He who tries a bit of everything accomplishes much of nothing".
** Equivalence: "Jack of all trades, master of none."

* ''"Quem tudo quer tudo perde."
** Translation: Who wants all, loses all.

* ''"Quem vai à guerra dá e leva."
** Translation: When somebody goes to war, he not only beats, but also is beaten.

* ''"Quem vai ao mar perde o lugar."
** Translation: Who goes out to sea loses his place.
** Variant: Quem foi ao mar perdeu o lugar.
** Variation: "Quem foi ao mar perdeu o lugar, quem foi ao rio perdeu o navio, quem foi ao vento perdeu o assento"
** Translation: Who goes out to sea loses his place, who goes out to the river loses the ship, who goes to the wind loses his sit"
** Variation: "Quem foi ao ar perdeu o lugar, quem foi ao vento perdeu o assento."
** Translation: He who goes out to the air (blown up) loses his place.
** Meaning: Your absence allows your privileges to be taken away.

* ''"Quem viver verá."''
** Translation: "He who lives shall see."

* ''"Quer queira quer não queira o burro há-de ir à feira."''
** Translation: Willing or not, the donkey will go to the fair.
** Meaning: Come what comes, willing or not, I/he will do it.

* ''"Querer é poder."
** Translation: "To want is to be able/is power."
** Equivalent: "Where there is a will, there is a way."
** Equivalent (alt.): Might is right.

==R==

* ''"Rei morto, rei posto."''
** Translation: Dead king, new king. (That's not really a good translation)
** Usage: When someone is replaced outrageously fast.

* ''"Roupa suja lava-se em casa."''
** Translation: "Dirty clothes one washes it at home."
** Personal affairs are not to be discussed publicly.
** See also: ''"A roupa suja lava-se me casa."''

* "Roma e Pavia não se fizeram num dia."
** Translation: "Rome and Pavia weren't built in one day"
** Meaning: Big projects take time and are made little by little.
** Equivalence: Rome wasn't built in a day.

* ''"Rompe-se o saco à força de querer enchê-lo."''
** Translation: The sack tears open with the insistence in filling it.
** Meaning: Oversizing some aspects beyond reasonable compromises an entire project.

==S==

* ''"Saber é poder."''
** Translation: "Knowledge is power."

* ''"Santo de casa não faz milagre."''
** Variant: ''"Santos de casa não fazem milagres."'' (Port.)
** Translation: "Home saints don't make miracles."
** Equivalence: "Nobody is a saint in his own hometown".

* ''"São mais as vozes que as nozes."''
** Translation: There's more voices than nuts.
** Meaning: Much is being said about it but little done.
** Meaning: There's more things said about he/she/it than real facts.

* ''"Sarampo sarampelo sete vezes vem ao pêlo."''
** Translation: Measles, measleslets, seven times come to the skin.
** Meaning: An entire group of childhood diseases is similar to measles, so it is (wrongly) said here that measles occurs many times.

* ''"Se a vida lhe der um limão, faça dele uma caipirinha."'' (Brazil)
** Translation: "If life gives you a lemon, make a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caipirinha caipirinha] out of it.
** Meaning: Turn bad things into good ones
** Equivalence: "If life gives you lemons, make a lemonade."

* ''"Se idade fosse igual a sabedoria, qualquer burro velho era Desembargador jubilado"''
** Translation: "If old age was the same as wisdom, any old donkey would be a celebrated Justice"
** Equivalence: "Some people get older, but get no wiser".

* ''"Se não os podes vencer, junta-te a eles."''
** Translation: "If you can't beat them, join them."

* ''"Se o casamento fosse bom, não precisava de testemunhas."''
** Translation: "If marriage were a good thing, it wouldn't need witnesses."

* ''"Se o homem é a cabeça, a mulher é o pescoço"''
** Translation: "If the husband is the head, the wife ought to be his neck"
** Meaning: The husband is the decision-maker, but his wife can change his mind/ turn his head

* ''"Se o trabalho dá saúde, que trabalhem os doentes."''
** Translation: If work brings health, let the sick do it.
** Meaning: ironic elaboration upon "O trabalho dá saúde." (See.)

* ''"Se queres conhecer o vilão, põe-lhe uma vara na mão."
** Translation: If you want to know villain, give him a stick.

* ''"Se queres um grilo, vai pari-lo."''
** Translation: If you want a cricket go give birth to it.
** Meaning: If you want it, work to get it.
** Note: Contains profanity.

* ''"Solta a franga !"''
** Translation: Release the chicken.
** Equivalence: Loosen Up.
** Note: an (idiomatic) expression, not a proverb.

* ''"Só a morte não tem remédio."''
** Translation: Only death has no cure.
** Variant: Há remédio para tudo menos para a morte.
** Translation: There's a remedy for everything but death.

* ''"Só comete erros quem trabalha"''
** Translation: "Only people who work make mistakes"
** Variant: Só não se engana quem não faz nada.
** Translation: Only those who never do anything make no mistakes.
** Usage: Said to someone who criticises the mistakes done, but didn't join the doing of the job.
** Usage: The 2nd version, also to suggest that everyone makes mistakes.

* ''"Só lembra Santa Bárbara quando troveja."''
** Translation: Saint Barbara is only remembered when there's a thunderstorm.
** Meaning: You only pay attention to some people when you want something from them.
** Note: Saint Barbara is the patron of and protector from thunderstorms.

* ''"Só se dá o devido valor, àquilo que se perdeu [para sempre]."''
** Translation: "You only will know what something is really worth when you lose it [forever]."

* ''"Só trabalha quem não sabe fazer mais nada."''
** Translation: Only those who can't do anything else work.
** Usage: Usually from a "working class" person, complaining that he has to do manual labor because he doesn't know better.

==T==

* ''"Tantas vezes vai o cântaro à fonte que um dia lá deixa a asa."''
** Var.: ''"Tantas vezes vai o cântaro à fonte que um dia se quebra."''
** Translation: The pot goes so many times to the fountain that one day it will break.
** Usage: About people taking repeatedly risks, like the risk of pregnancy.
** See: ''"O pote tanto vai à bica que um dia fica."''

* ''"Tempo é dinheiro."''
** Translation: "Time is money." (Henry Ford)

* ''"Tal pai, tal filho."
** Translation/Equivalence: Like father, like son

* ''"Tempo de guerra, mentira como terra."
** Translation: "In time of war, lies (are as plentiful) as earth"

* ''"Todo o burro come palha, a questão é saber-lha dar."''
** Translation: Every donkey eats hay, the matter is knowing how to give it to him.
** Variant: ''"Todo o burro come palha, a questão é saber dar-lha."''
** Meaning: You can push anything on anyone, provided you know how to do it.

* ''"Todo o homem tem o seu preço."''
** Translation: Every man has his price.

* ''"Todos os caminhos vão dar a Roma."''
** Translation: All paths lead to Rome.
** Equivalent: All roads lead to Rome.

* ''"Trabalhar para aquecer, é melhor morrer de frio."''
** Translation: Work to get warm? It's better to die of cold.
** Meaning: It's better not to work, than do it for something that won't bring in nothing practical, namely payment.

* ''"Trabalho de menino é pouco, quem não o aproveita é louco."''
** Translation: A boy's work is little, but who doesn't use it is a fool.
** Usage: About using children for light chores.

* ''"Tristezas não pagam dívidas."''
** Translation: Sadnessess don't pay debts.
** Meaning: Your situation is no doubt terrible, but I still want my due. Stop crying and pay it.

* ''"Tudo o que entra é ganho."''
** Translation: Everything that gets in is a gain.
** Alternative meaning: Everything that gets in was paid for.

* ''"Tudo o que vem à rede é peixe."''
** Translation: All that comes to the net is a fish.
** Similar to ''"Tudo o que entra é ganho."''
** Usage: In situations in which you can only have profit.
** Usage: In situations in which you are willing to accept that anything you get is to be considered as profit, no matter what.

==U==

* ''"Um abismo chama outro."
** Translation: An abyss calls another.
** From the Latin ''Abyssus abyssum invocat.''
** Note: unusual usage, very learned (Port.)

* ''"Um dia não são dias."''
** Translation: One day isn't [many] days.
** Meaning: To set apart a special occasion for a small pleasure you can't have many times.

* ''"Um doutor é um burro carregado de livros."''
** Translation: A doctor is a book-loaded donkey.
** Note: "Burro" means "donkey" and "dumb".

* ''"Um, dois, três, foi a conta que Deus fez."''
** Translation: One, two, three, was the count God made.
** Usage: Childish; when counting up to three.

* ''"Uma mão lava a outra e as duas lavam o rosto."
** Variant: ''"Uma mão lava a outra e juntas lavam a cara."''
** Translation: One hand washes the other and both of them wash the face.
** Usage: About recovering your social "face".

* ''"Uns comem os figos, a outros rebenta a boca."''
** Translation: Some eat the figs, others get cracks in mouth
** Meaning: Some do things, others talk about it
** Meaning: Some get all the gain, others all the damage or undeserved punishment
** Note: In some people, eating fresh figs makes their lips crack.

==V==
* ''"Vale mais passar de burro a cavalo, que de cavalo a burro."''
** Translation: It's better to change from donkey to horse than from horse into donkey.
** Usage: Only the second half is used regularly in the expression "ir/passar de cavalo para burro", meaning going to a even worse situation.

* ''"Vale mais um burro que nos leve que cavalo que nos derrube."''
** Translation: A donkey that carries you is better than a horse that throws you to the ground.
** Meaning: Modestly but safely.

* ''"Vão-se os anéis, fiquem os dedos."''
** Translation: Let the rings go, let the fingers stay
** Equivalence: Health is better than wealth.

* ''"Velhos são os trapos!"''
** Translation: Rags are old!
** Usage: A common sentence used when someone, say, a 95 years old lady says she's old, and you mean to tell her, No, you're still a young girl, only rags are old.

* ''"Vinte galinhas e um galo comem tanto como um cavalo!"''
** Translation: " Twenty chickens and a rooster eat so much like a horse!

* ''"Vozes de burro não chegam aos céus."''
** See: ''"Zurros de burro não chegam ao céu."''

==Z==

* ''"Zangam-se as comadres, sabem-se as verdades."'' (Port.)
** See: "Brigam as comadres, descobrem-se as verdades."

* ''""Zangas de namorados, amores dobrados."''
** Translation: Boyfriend and girlfriend tantrums, doubled loves."

* ''"Zurros de burro não chegam ao céu."
** Translation: A donkey's cries don't reach heaven.
** Variation: ''"Vozes de burro não chegam aos céus."'' (Port.)
** Translation: Donkey voices don't reach heaven.
** Meaning: say no more silly things, I'm not even listening.

== ...not actual proverbs ==

Hello. Congratulations on the nice article, but let me make some (I hope constructive) criticism.

In my opinion, there are some "proverbs" quoted in the [[Portuguese proverbs]] main page that simply shouldn't be there (mainly because, well, they are NOT proverbs).
The definition (taken from Wikipedia) of "proverb" is: ''a simple and concrete saying '''popularly known and repeated''', which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity''.

Now, take for instance the following "proverb" that appears in the main page:

''A pedra é dura, a gota de água miúda, mas caindo sempre faz cavadura.''

I think it should be clear to anyone who is familiar with Portuguese that this is not a proverb because, I can assure you, it certainly is not "popularly known and repeated". I am saying this as a Portuguese: I have never heard it before, nor has, I believe, anyone else who knows Portuguese.

Actually, there is a common saying in Portuguese that expresses the same idea, which is ''Água mole em pedra dura, tanto dá até que fura''. That is an actual proverb, because virtually everyone (Portuguese) knows it. But the one in the main page is completely unknown (the only thing to be said for it is that it rhymes, but that doesn't make it a proverb!). If you don't believe me, or prefer to trust the book, just do a Google search, and compare the two result lists!

Another "proverb" that appears in the main article is ''Faze boa farinha, e naô toques bosina.'' First, that is not Portuguese. (Is it supposed to be Old Portuguese? Or are "Faze" and "naô" typos?) In any case, it clearly is NOT a proverb because, again, it is 100% unknown!

The same goes for ''A mà chaga, mà herva.'' That is not a proverb. At least, I am sure that it is not a ''Portuguese'' proverb: the words "mà" and "herva" don't even exist in Portuguese!

I suggest that these three "proverbs" be removed from the main page.

Thanks for your consideration.

P.S. If you want to be safe, or if you don't accept my argument that (by definition) "unknown" proverbs aren't proverbs, then you may keep ''A pedra é dura...''. But the other two, as they stand, are not Portuguese (''A mà chaga, mà herva'', in particular, simply doesn't make any sense). - [[User:Daniel Tomé|Daniel Tomé]] ([[User talk:Daniel Tomé|talk]]) 19:33, 26 January 2013 (UTC)
:: Hello and welcome to Wikiquote! Thank you for your input. Many proverbs I add are from old books. This is why some of them are in an archaic language. In this case it is my opinion the language should be updated, and if this does not work, then the proverb should be deleted.

::Others proverbs on the list might even no longer be used, and as you point out, are therefore in a sense, no longer proverbs. I still believe these no longer used proverbs should be around here on the page untill they are replace by a non archaic version, because the wisdom they contain, are still useful to Wikiquotes readers. You claim that one of the proverbs listed here is not used, and mention that there is another proverb with the same meaning, which is ''not'' listed here and is widely used. I suggest: go ahead and replace!--[[User:Spannerjam|Spannerjam]] ([[User talk:Spannerjam|talk]]) 23:27, 26 January 2013 (UTC)

:::Dear Spannerjam, thanks for your kind words. After reading your explanation, I realized my error. It is true that the words quoted above do not exist in modern Portuguese, and that they appeared to me to be typos, but if these are indeed old proverbs, it was hasty of me to say they don't "make any sense". In fact, they do.

:::So here is what I've done:

:::1) I have changed "A mà chaga, mà herva" to ''A má chaga, má erva'', which is correct (current) Portuguese, and that actually seems to be a proverb, with the same meaning as "Deseperate evils need desperate remedies" (as quoted in your book), with "má chaga" and "má erva" meaning "bad wound" and "bad herb", respectively;

:::2) "Faze boa farinha, e naô toques bosina" could be translated into something like "Make good flour, and do not play the horn", which has a similar meaning to "good services and products do not need advertisement", as your book claims. So, what I've done is to replace the words that, today, look like spelling mistakes, with modern Portuguese: ''Faz boa farinha e não toques buzina.'' (This might have been a Portuguese proverb, now forgotten.)

:::3) My initial objection to "A pedra é dura, a gota de água miúda, mas caindo sempre faz cavadura" was that it is not "popularly known and repeated", but if we are to keep the previous proverbs (to preserve their wisdom, as you say), even though they are not popular, then I see no reason to remove this one. Hence, I simply added, in addition to it, its most popular form: ''Água mole em pedra dura, tanto dá até que fura'' (sorry if I messed up your format).

:::Now, I just fear that it could be a problem that my changes/additions do not appear in the book(s) that you cite as sources. Best regards, - [[User:Daniel Tomé|Daniel Tomé]] ([[User talk:Daniel Tomé|talk]]) 02:05, 27 January 2013 (UTC)

::::sooner or later someone would come up with the idea of sources. It's not altogether a bad idea, but my experience with sources is that they make huge volumes of strange proverbs nobody ever heard about, such as thirteenth century and other obscure stuff. Then, as you see, many current proverbs are not mentioned by foreign authors, because proverbs are people's stuff everyday, not something you find primarily in literature. I'm a native speaker and contributed with some 95% of the unsourced proverbs, which came from my everyday life - rejecting all the ones I never heard of. If you prefer to find your proverbs in the library instead of in people's everyday lives you will look quite funny and of the mark to native speakers, but hey, that's your privilege :-) --[[User:Xyzt1234|Xyzt1234]] ([[User talk:Xyzt1234|talk]]) 19:14, 15 September 2013 (UTC) (sorry for any tipo, using a phone)
:::: Tomé, this is not about what you wrote, of course. I'd like to put it in less words: trying to find oral tradition in books is like hammering a mail with an orange. It's not the best method. If the book is on polynesian proverbs, written by an Austrian (just imagining) and published in China, it's likely not to be realístic. This is an example that truth is found in narratives, not in direct contact with reality. --[[User:Xyzt1234|Xyzt1234]] ([[User talk:Xyzt1234|talk]]) 21:15, 15 September 2013 (UTC)

== A lot of the proverbs in this section are simply wrong ==

As a Portuguese born and raised in Lisbon with Portuguese parents and with a lot of holidays made in the North and Center of Portugal I can say that a lot of what is in this page is wrong and probably written by Brazilians mixed with Portugueses in the middle making it a huge mess for anyone who has a desire to learn more about them or for who comes to check for some related info -- eng->pt or pt->eng.

I know that I could probably do something correct at 100% in the Portuguese from Portugal part with the help of a book I've as a proof-check [and as an helper since I don't know them all] and make this a better page but this is a lot of work to be done just by a single person since the book I can use a source has over 400 pages [and I can't do the English part, I simply don't have the knowledge for most of them] so I purpose to someone, a mod[?], to flag the page as "in need of edition" or "has inaccurate information" [dunno how things work around here] until someone has the time and desire to do it properly.

I purpose the following to be followed in the future, if someone wants to do this hard task:
- Portuguese from Portugal proverb
- Portuguese variant [if there is one since some change from Region to Region]
- Brazilian variant
- English equivalent
- Definition
- Source(s)

== Bohn Anyone? ==

A magnificent collection of Proverbs is available in the free ebook [https://books.google.com.au/books?id=N9xUAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false A Polyglott of Foreign Proverbs] if anyone cares to go trawling.--[[User:Lmstearn|Lmstearn]] ([[User talk:Lmstearn|talk]]) 15:52, 8 July 2016 (UTC)

Talk:Bertrand Russell

2021-07-12T20:05:50Z

Dread83: /* Unsourced */ from What men really want is not knowledge but certainty

== Discussion ==

I deleted that quote from user 62.251.12.169:

* "'[[Philosophy]]' is a word which has been used in many ways, some wider, some narrower. I propose to use it in a very wide sense, which I will now try to explain."
** Source: ''A History of Western Philosophy''

These two sentences are quite possibly the most meaningless words Russel ever put together. If you disagree, revert and add this other famous quotes from him:
* "Hello."
* "Ouch."
* "Six o'clock."
- posted by an anonymous user ([[User:217.81.69.52]])

: I am in no hurry to put the phrase back, because it should perhaps be given fuller context, but I certainly cannot agree with either your assessment, or your apparent attitude. If it seems meaningless to you, you are certainly free to indicate why, but it is a truthful comment, and well bespeaks a fact that is true of ''many'' words, especially many casually used words like philosophy, and religion, and even science. Love of Wisdom, Faith in a Greater Presence, and Knowledge of Truth, are indicated by the terms, but they have all been applied and misapplied in many ways: to casual ideas of the most shallow who have no great love or knowledge of Wisdom; to faiths proclaimed to be about Reality, that are far more faiths in one's own bigotries, and to searches that are claimed to be for knowledge of what is true, but are often searches for confirmations of one's own presumptions. I will probably replace the statement, but feel I should examine the full context of this apparently introductory comment, and among the works by Russell in my collection I am not sure I presently have a copy of this, and am not sure where it is, if I do. ~ [[User:Moby|Moby]] 19:48, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

:: I think anonymous (and unsigned) [[User:217.81.69.52]] has a point, though I also find his/her vehemence unseemly. Wikiquote is filled with far too many quotes that only seem to have meaning to the people adding them, or those who are already aware of the context. [[User:Moby|Moby]] may be quite right, that Russell's words presage an important linguistic insight, but I found Moby's explanation more interesting and useful than the quote. Surely Russell has made this point more eloquently and succinctly elsewhere, perhaps in said full context? — [[User:Jeffq|Jeff Q]] 21:19, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

: I think it is strange that Bertrand Russell is compared to T. S. Eliot in some of these quotes. T. S. Eliot is far more purposeful than Russel. After all, Eliot did not waste his time with logic.

== Order of quotations ==

The quote about race appearing first in this collection can't be coincidence; it seems likely that someone wanted to give greatest prominence to the quote that reflected worst on Russell. Is there any policy on what order quotations should appear in, or are we free to start a revert war on the subject with no reference by which to choose what is most appropriate? - (ciphergoth) [[User:82.70.194.38|82.70.194.38]] 08:53, 12 May 2005 (UTC)

: After some searching, I'm starting to doubt the authenticity of this quote, but I don't have a copy of Marriage and Morals to hand to check. [[User:82.70.194.38|82.70.194.38]] 09:06, 12 May 2005 (UTC)

:: I don't know anything about this specific quote, but I listened to a talk by Noam Chomsky [http://www.kpftx.org/archive.htm here], and in the Q&A section (at about 41 minutes) someone asked him about Russell, and Chomsky mentioned that Russell made some horrible/racist/genocidal remarks, though still most of what he did was admirable... So it's quite possible that this quote is accurate. Therefore I suggest not to remove it without checking the source first. [[User:Iddo999|iddo999]] 11:11, 12 May 2005 (UTC)

::: As far as checking the quote, [[User:82.70.194.38|82.70.194.38]], I highly recommend your local library. I use mine to fact-check quotes frequently. Most libraries should have a copy of ''Marriage and Morals''. Always remember that these things get fixed by the people who care most about each article. — [[User:Jeffq|Jeff Q]] [[User talk:Jeffq|(talk)]] 19:02, 12 May 2005 (UTC)

== Some missing quotes ==

I thought a few of the interestings quotes are missing. I'm posting them here first:

"Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths."
- Impact of Science on Society

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts."
(couldn't find any sources for this one)

: This is a common but unsourced version; the very similar thing that Russell did write is contained in the page: “The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” (But it is probably useful to retain this widely-quoted version here, for the benefit of those seeking an attribution of it to Russell.) [[User:Gthb|Gthb]] 13:01, 25 August 2009 (UTC)
Quoted in - The Triumph of Stupidity In: Mortals and Others: Bertrand Russell's American Essays, 1931-1935, v.2, p.28.

This immediately brought this quote from Yeats to mind:
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."
The Second Coming - William Butler Yeats
"Not to be absolutely certain is, I think, one of the essential things in rationality."
- Am I An Atheist Or An Agnostic?

"Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom."
- Unpopular Essays, Outline of Intellectual Rubbish

When one admits that nothing is certain one must, I think, also admit that some things are much more nearly certain than others. It is much more nearly certain that we are assembled here tonight than it is that this or that political party is in the right. Certainly there are degrees of certainty, and one should be very careful to emphasize that fact, because otherwise one is landed in an utter skepticism, and complete skepticism would, of course, be totally barren and completely useless.
- Am I An Atheist Or An Agnostic?

And I think the source for this quote
"It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatsoever for supposing it is true."
is "On the Value of Scepticism"
[[User:AlexSa|Alex]] 01:18, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

: In general, you better just [[Wikiquote:Policies_and_guidelines#General_guidelines|be bold]] and edit the article, because that way there's usually higher probability that it'd generate responses from other editors. But accompanying it with useful comments in discussion is appreciated, of course. BTW, do you also have a source for the "Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so." quote? I'm guessing that it was said in relation to WWI? But I don't know.... [[User:Iddo999|iddo999]] 06:46, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

:I added the new quotes. I also moved "It is undesirable..." to the sourced section. For sources, see http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/russell8.htm and http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/russell4.htm [[User:AlexSa|Alex]] 17:18, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

The following quotes are attributed to Russell. Does anyone know what the sources are?:

"The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution."

"Passive acceptance of the teacher's wisdom is easy to most boys and girls. It involves no effort of independent thought, and seems rational because the teacher knows more than his pupils; it is moreover the way to win the favour of the teacher unless he is a very exceptional man. Yet the habit of passive acceptance is a disastrous one in later life. It causes man to seek and to accept a leader, and to accept as a leader whoever is established in that position."

:According to http://www.archive.org/stream/principlesofsoci00russiala/principlesofsoci00russiala_djvu.txt the above is a quote from Principles of Social Reconstruction, 1916, page 163. I don't have a copy of the book to check, though.

"In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted."

== Quotation about hydrogen bomb under wrong year ==

The quotation about the hydrogen bomb is listed in the 20s, while it should have been in the 50s. [[User:Gakrivas|Gakrivas]] 20:02, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

: Wikipedia's article on [[w:Betrand Russell|Russell]] lists the book quoted like so:

:* 1925, ''The ABC of Relativity'', London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner.

: Although WP itself isn't a reliable source, I have confirmed that the U.S. Library of Congress has a 1931 copy of this book, by the same publisher (LCCN 47043127 , call number QC6. R8 1931). I admit curiosity about how someone could intelligently comment on something that wouldn't exist until nearly a quarter of a century later, although atomic energy and weaponry were topics of discussion among scientists well before they became physical reality. I would suggest we need to examine the source to see exactly what the context of this quote was (the parenthetical "[to hydrogen bombs]" is suspicious) and resolve this apparent paradox. ~ [[User:Jeffq|Jeff Q]] [[User talk:Jeffq|(talk)]] 21:57, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

== Bertrand and Coxeter ==

I found this quote in H.S.M. Coxeter's book Geometry "Mathematics possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty- a beauty cold and austere, like that of a sculpture, without appeal to any part of our weaker nature... sublimely pure, and capable of a stern perfection such as only the greatest art can show."

Bertrand Russell (1872- )" he wasn't dead when the book was published
I don't want to fiddle in a wiki that I am not a part of so I will leave it up to you. Cheers--Cronholm144 from en.wikipedia
:This can already be found on the Wikiquote page as a Sourced quotation from ''The Study of Mathematics'' (1902). - [[User:InvisibleSun|InvisibleSun]] 04:17, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

== Pictures ? ==

They put a subjective meaning to the quotes (maybe except the ones about mathematics), so although they are beautiful, I don't think they should illustrate Bertrand Russell's quotes.

== google quote ==

Google's "quotes of the day" widget has this today:

This is one of those views which are so absolutely absurd that only very learned men could possibly adopt them. - Bertrand Russell

I see it's not on the page. Googling doesn't result in many hits. Does anyoneknow if this is a real quote and if so where it may have come from? [[Special:Contributions/158.130.12.196|158.130.12.196]] 15:23, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

: The quote is a bit off. Russell actually wrote:

*This is one of those views which are so absurd that only very learned men could possibly adopt them.

**''My Philosophical Development'' (1959), p. 110.

: Cheers! [[User:BD2412|''BD2412'']] [[User talk:BD2412|'''T''']] 18:54, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

== Unsourced ==

If you can provide a [[Wikiquote:Sourcing|reliable and precise source]] for any quote from this list please move it to the [[Bertrand Russell|project page]]. --[[User:Antiquary|Antiquary]] 20:40, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

* To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human.

* Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence; it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines.

* You could tell by his [Aldous Huxley] conversation which volume of the Encyclopaedia Britannica he'd been reading. One day it would be Alps, Andes and Apennines, and the next it would be the Himalayas and the Hippocratic Oath. (Source: Parris, M., Scorn: With Added Vitriol, London: Penguin, 1996, quoting Russell's 1963 letter to Ronald W. Clark)

* The saviors of the world, society's last hope.

* The universe may have a purpose, but nothing we know suggests that, if so, this purpose has any similarity to ours.

* There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.

* To choose one sock from each of infinitely many pairs of socks requires the [[w:Axiom of choice|Axiom of choice]], but for shoes the Axiom is not needed. (Sourced to ''My Philosophical Development'' and on project page. [[User:David Pierce|David Pierce]] ([[User talk:David Pierce|talk]]) 11:50, 8 July 2015 (UTC))

* War does not determine who is right — only who is left.

** (This was attributed by an IP to the video game ''Fallout 3'' in [http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=War&diff=next&oldid=879524 this edit] to the [[War]] article.)

** This is most often attributed to Russell, when an author is given, but without any sourced citations, and the earliest occurrence I have found of it is in ''[[w:Coronet (magazine)|Coronet]]'' v. 23 (November 1947 - April 1948) , p. 150, where it seems to have been provided as "philosophy footnote" without mention of an author. ~ [[User:Kalki|Kalki]] 02:31, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

* I am neither as drunk as a Lord, nor as sober as a Judge. I am more in the condition of a Lord Justice.

* When we look at a rock what we are seeing is not the rock, but the effect of the rock upon us.

* Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.

* Another that's widely attributed to him is, "No matter how eloquently a dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were poor, but honest." I don't know if it's verifiable, though. [[User:Angr|Angr]] 13:40, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

*: That is a close paraphrase of an actual quote cited in the [[Autobiography]] theme article. I hesitate to add it here because this article is already so long. ~ [[User:Ningauble|Ningauble]] 15:33, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

* I am neither as drunk as a Lord, nor as sober as a judge. I am more in the condition of a Lord Justice.

* What men really want is not knowledge, but certainty.

== Bad Quaker grammar ==

"Thee" was an objective pronoun, that is, it applied when the person in question was having something done to them ("unto thee") rather than doing something ("wouldst thou?"), so Bertrand's uses of "thee" should both have been "thou". It's equivalent to having said, if he'd been talking about himself: "Me will find out in time" and "Me might observe incidentally". [[Special:Contributions/213.122.13.17|213.122.13.17]] 12:32, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

== Math disinterest ==

Is this quote a misattribution:
:Mathematics is the field where we don't know what we are talking about, nor whether it is true or false.
Searching texts has not revealed a source, yet this statement is widely attributed to Russell on the net. It may have arisen as a gloss of something on logical variables and primitive notions.

Something very close to this is attributed to Russell in Nagel and Newman's book "Gödel's Theorem", though the original source is not given.

* I've sourced it. Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays (1918): Ch. 5: Mathematics and the Metaphysicians--[[User:Collingwood|Collingwood]] ([[User talk:Collingwood|talk]]) 19:40, 12 April 2012 (UTC)

== Intellectual ==

Can anyone source a quote something like: 'It could be that many people think me an intellectual, but so far no-one has had the courage to say so to my face.'

[[User:Spicemix|Spicemix]] 12:04, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

== Does anyone know ... ==

... the actual quote of Russell which it is based upon?

: Bertrand Russell's prescription for an "ideal form of a work in philosophy" (quoting Arthur Danto in the. November 17, 1997 issue of the Nation): "It should begin with propositions no one would question and conclude with propositions no one would accept." (Wolff 1998, vii)

Wolff, Robert Paul. 1998. In Defense of Anarchism. Berkeley: University of California Press.

:: In ''The Philosophy of Logical Atomism'' (1918), Russell writes that "the point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it." ~ [[User:Daniel Tomé|Daniel Tomé]] ([[User talk:Daniel Tomé|talk]]) 13:00, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

== Images ==

Hello, friends.
It is my understanding now that the Wikiquote page of Bertrand Russell has had, in the past, more pictures illustrating the quotes than it did at the moment that I started adding new ones. Apparently, those previous pictures were added mainly by [[User:Kalki|Kalki]], but then someone decided to delete them.
I am not sure how that works, or should work, as I am rather new to editing Wikiquote.
Of course that I, myself, try to add only images that (seem to me) appropriate, but I fear that their relevance may inevitably be subjective. So I ask here if I should continue to try to illustrate the page, or will my efforts be in vain?
I hope that we can make Russell's the best Wikiquote page possible! Thanks in advance for your input.
[[User:Daniel Tomé|Daniel Tomé]] ([[User talk:Daniel Tomé|talk]]) 23:53, 29 December 2012 (GMT)

: There is an attempt to lend clarity at ''[[Wikiquote:Image use policy]]'', adopted earlier this year. It is probably best to avoid images whose relevance might be seen as subjective, and stick with ones that are more literal than interpretive. ~ [[User:Ningauble|Ningauble]] ([[User talk:Ningauble|talk]]) 14:13, 30 December 2012 (UTC)

== Trimming? ==

Hi again. As is known to all, the [[Bertrand Russell]] page is long, but I would like to know if you consider it ''too'' long. If you do (as the experienced [[User:UDScott|UDScott]] does), there are, I think, mainly three different things that we could do:

1) Split the article into multiple sections (which was what [[User:UDScott|UDScott]] did very recently);

2) Trim it;

3) Do nothing.

Now, [[User talk:UDScott#Bertrand Russell (wikiquote article) Split| in my opinion]], important quotes, such as those from "[[Marriage and Morals]]" (cited as being a reason for Russell's award of the Nobel Prize, and which is fundamental to understanding his views on sexuality), and "[[The Conquest of Happiness]]" (a best-seller that contains much wisdom), '''should be kept in the main article''' of [[Bertrand Russell]], ''if at all possible''.

Needless to say, I agree with [[User:UDScott|UDScott]] that the size of the article is an important concern, but I, myself, think that a better way to reduce the size of the page would be to ''trim'' the article, instead of simply moving important sections of it to other pages.

I do not wish to upset anyone, particularly those who worked hard to add the quotes to the page. But ''cuts will hurt.'' That is why I am asking you if you agree that they should be done.

So, do you agree that the article needs to be trimmed? '''If you do not agree, no quote should be deleted, of course.''' But if you do agree with the trimming suggestion, then we first need to discuss which (parts of) quotes to delete.

Below are some of my suggestions. I think that the easiest place to start is with Russell's Nobel Lecture, "What Desires Are Politically Important?". It is very brilliant but, in any case, a link to the lecture is provided, so I do not think that it is necessary to quote it at such length in the main page. The lines that I suggest we can delete are the following (strikethrough):
{{hat|suggested lines}}
* <s>There are some desires which, though very powerful, have not, as a rule, any great political importance. Most men at some period of their lives desire to marry, but as a rule they can satisfy this desire without having to take any political action. There are, of course, exceptions; the rape of the Sabine women is a case in point. And the development of northern Australia is seriously impeded by the fact that the vigorous young men who ought to do the work dislike being wholly deprived of female society. But such cases are unusual, and in general the interest that men and women take in each other has little influence upon politics.</s>

* <s>The desires that are politically important may be divided into a primary and a secondary group. In the primary group come the necessities of life: food and shelter and clothing. When these things become very scarce, there is no limit to the efforts that men will make, or to the violence that they will display, in the hope of securing them.</s>

* <s>Man differs from other animals in one very important respect, and that is that he has some desires which are, so to speak, infinite, which can never be fully gratified, and which would keep him restless even in Paradise. The boa constrictor, when he has had an adequate meal, goes to sleep, and does not wake until he needs another meal. Human beings, for the most part, are not like this.</s>

* <s>Acquisitiveness — the wish to possess as much as possible of goods, or the title to goods — is a motive which, I suppose, has its origin in a combination of fear with the desire for necessaries.</s>

* <s>Acquisitiveness, although it is the mainspring of the capitalist system, is by no means the most powerful of the motives that survive the conquest of hunger. Rivalry is a much stronger motive. Over and over again in Mohammedan history, dynasties have come to grief because the sons of a sultan by different mothers could not agree, and in the resulting civil war universal ruin resulted. The same sort of thing happens in modern Europe. When the British Government very unwisely allowed the Kaiser to be present at a naval review at Spithead, the thought which arose in his mind was not the one which we had intended. What he thought was, "I must have a Navy as good as Grandmamma's." And from this thought have sprung all our subsequent troubles.</s> The world would be a happier place than it is if acquisitiveness were always stronger than rivalry. But in fact, a great many men will cheerfully face impoverishment if they can thereby secure complete ruin for their rivals. Hence the present level of taxation. <s>Vanity is a motive of immense potency. Anyone who has much to do with children knows how they are constantly performing some antic, and saying "Look at me." "Look at me" is one of the most fundamental desires of the human heart. It can take innumerable forms, from buffoonery to the pursuit of posthumous fame.</s>

* <s>One of the troubles about vanity is that it grows with what it feeds on. The more you are talked about, the more you will wish to be talked about. The condemned murderer who is allowed to see the account of his trial in the press is indignant if he finds a newspaper which has reported it inadequately. And the more he finds about himself in other newspapers, the more indignant he will be with the one whose reports are meagre. Politicians and literary men are in the same case. And the more famous they become, the more difficult the press-cutting agency finds it to satisfy them. It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the influence of vanity throughout the range of human life, from the child of three to the potentate at whose frown the world trembles. Mankind have even committed the impiety of attributing similar desires to the Deity, whom they imagine avid for continual praise. But great as is the influence of the motives we have been considering, there is one which outweighs them all. I mean the love of power. Love of power is closely akin to vanity, but it is not by any means the same thing. What vanity needs for its satisfaction is glory, and it is easy to have glory without power. The people who enjoy the greatest glory in the United States are film stars, but they can be put in their place by the Committee for Un-American Activities, which enjoys no glory whatever.</s>

* <s>Power, like vanity, is insatiable. Nothing short of omnipotence could satisfy it completely. And as it is especially the vice of energetic men, the causal efficacy of love of power is out of all proportion to its frequency. It is, indeed, by far the strongest motive in the lives of important men. Love of power is greatly increased by the experience of power, and this applies to petty power as well as to that of potentates.</s>

* The pursuit of knowledge is, I think, mainly actuated by love of power. And so are all advances in scientific technique. <s>In politics, also, a reformer may have just as strong a love of power as a despot.</s> It would be a complete mistake to decry love of power altogether as a motive. Whether you will be led by this motive to actions which are useful, or to actions which are pernicious, depends upon the social system, and upon your capacities. <s>If your capacities are theoretical or technical, you will contribute to knowledge or technique, and, as a rule, your activity will be useful. If you are a politician you may be actuated by love of power, but as a rule this motive will join itself on to the desire to see some state of affairs realized which, for some reason, you prefer to the status quo. A great general may, like Alcibiades, be quite indifferent as to which side he fights on, but most generals have preferred to fight for their own country, and have, therefore, had other motives besides love of power. The politician may change sides so frequently as to find himself always in the majority, but most politicians have a preference for one party to the other, and subordinate their love of power to this preference.</s>

* <s>Love of power as nearly pure as possible is to be seen in various different types of men. One type is the soldier of fortune, of whom Napoleon is the supreme example. Napoleon had, I think, no ideological preference for France over Corsica, but if he had become Emperor of Corsica he would not have been so great a man as he became by pretending to be a Frenchman. Such men, however, are not quite pure examples, since they also derive immense satisfaction from vanity. The purest type is that of the eminence grise — the power behind the throne that never appears in public, and merely hugs itself with the secret thought: "How little these puppets know who is pulling the strings." Friedrich von Holstein, who controlled the foreign policy of the German Empire from 1890 to 1906, illustrates this type to perfection. He lived in a slum; he never appeared in society; he avoided meeting the Emperor, except on one single occasion when the Emperor's importunity could not be resisted; he refused all invitations to Court functions, on the ground that he possessed no court dress. He had acquired secrets which enabled him to blackmail the Chancellor and many of the Kaiser's intimates. He used the power of blackmail, not to acquire wealth, or fame, or any other obvious advantage, but merely to compel the adoption of the foreign policy he preferred. In the East, similar characters were not very uncommon among eunuchs.</s>

* <s>A great deal of work is sedentary, and most manual work exercises only a few specialized muscles.</s> When crowds assemble in Trafalgar Square to cheer to the echo an announcement that the government has decided to have them killed, they would not do so if they had all walked twenty-five miles that day. This cure for bellicosity is, however, impracticable, and if the human race is to survive — a thing which is, perhaps, undesirable — other means must be found for securing an innocent outlet for the unused physical energy that produces love of excitement. This is a matter which has been too little considered, both by moralists and by social reformers. The social reformers are of the opinion that they have more serious things to consider. The moralists, on the other hand, are immensely impressed with the seriousness of all the permitted outlets of the love of excitement; the seriousness, however, in their minds, is that of Sin. Dance halls, cinemas, this age of jazz, are all, if we may believe our ears, gateways to Hell, and we should be better employed sitting at home contemplating our sins. I find myself unable to be in entire agreement with the grave men who utter these warnings. The devil has many forms, some designed to deceive the young, some designed to deceive the old and serious. If it is the devil that tempts the young to enjoy themselves, is it not, perhaps, the same personage that persuades the old to condemn their enjoyment? And is not condemnation perhaps merely a form of excitement appropriate to old age? And is it not, perhaps, a drug which — like opium — has to be taken in continually stronger doses to produce the desired effect? Is it not to be feared that, beginning with the wickedness of the cinema, we should be led step by step to condemn the opposite political party, dagoes, wops, Asiatics, and, in short, everybody except the fellow members of our club? And it is from just such condemnations, when widespread, that wars proceed. I have never heard of a war that proceeded from dance halls.

* <s>What is serious about excitement is that so many of its forms are destructive. It is destructive in those who cannot resist excess in alcohol or gambling. It is destructive when it takes the form of mob violence. And above all it is destructive when it leads to war. It is so deep a need that it will find harmful outlets of this kind unless innocent outlets are at hand. There are such innocent outlets at present in sport, and in politics so long as it is kept within constitutional bounds. But these are not sufficient, especially as the kind of politics that is most exciting is also the kind that does most harm.</s> Civilized life has grown altogether too tame, and, if it is to be stable, it must provide harmless outlets for the impulses which our remote ancestors satisfied in hunting.

* <s>Interwoven with many other political motives are two closely related passions to which human beings are regrettably prone: I mean fear and hate. It is normal to hate what we fear, and it happens frequently, though not always, that we fear what we hate. I think it may be taken as the rule among primitive men, that they both fear and hate whatever is unfamiliar. They have their own herd, originally a very small one. And within one herd, all are friends, unless there is some special ground of enmity. Other herds are potential or actual enemies; a single member of one of them who strays by accident will be killed. An alien herd as a whole will be avoided or fought according to circumstances. It is this primitive mechanism which still controls our instinctive reaction to foreign nations.</s> The completely untravelled person will view all foreigners as the savage regards a member of another herd. But the man who has travelled, or who has studied international politics, will have discovered that, if his herd is to prosper, it must, to some degree, become amalgamated with other herds.

* We love those who hate our enemies, and if we had no enemies there would be very few people whom we should love.<s> All this, however, is only true so long as we are concerned solely with attitudes towards other human beings. You might regard the soil as your enemy because it yields reluctantly a niggardly subsistence. You might regard Mother Nature in general as your enemy, and envisage human life as a struggle to get the better of Mother Nature. If men viewed life in this way, cooperation of the whole human race would become easy. And men could easily be brought to view life in this way if schools, newspapers, and politicians devoted themselves to this end. But schools are out to teach patriotism; newspapers are out to stir up excitement; and politicians are out to get re-elected. None of the three, therefore, can do anything towards saving the human race from reciprocal suicide.</s>

* <s>There are two ways of coping with fear: one is to diminish the external danger, and the other is to cultivate Stoic endurance. The latter can be reinforced, except where immediate action is necessary, by turning our thoughts away from the cause of fear. The conquest of fear is of very great importance. Fear is in itself degrading; it easily becomes an obsession; it produces hate of that which is feared, and it leads headlong to excesses of cruelty. Nothing has so beneficent an effect on human beings as security. If an international system could be established which would remove the fear of war, the improvement in everyday mentality of everyday people would be enormous and very rapid. Fear, at present, overshadows the world. The atom bomb and the bacterial bomb, wielded by the wicked communist or the wicked capitalist as the case may be, make Washington and the Kremlin tremble, and drive men further along the road toward the abyss. If matters are to improve, the first and essential step is to find a way of diminishing fear.</s>

* <s>The world at present is obsessed by the conflict of rival ideologies, and one of the apparent causes of conflict is the desire for the victory of our own ideology and the defeat of the other. I do not think that the fundamental motive here has much to do with ideologies. I think the ideologies are merely a way of grouping people, and that the passions involved are merely those which always arise between rival groups.</s>

* <s>Ideologies, in fact, are one of the methods by which herds are created, and the psychology is much the same however the herd may have been generated. You may have been feeling that I have allowed only for bad motives, or, at best, such as are ethically neutral. I am afraid they are, as a rule, more powerful than more altruistic motives, but I do not deny that altruistic motives exist, and may, on occasion, be effective. The agitation against slavery in England in the early nineteenth century was indubitably altruistic, and was thoroughly effective.</s>

* I do not think it can be questioned that sympathy is a genuine motive, and that some people at some times are made somewhat uncomfortable by the sufferings of some other people. It is sympathy that has produced the many humanitarian advances of the last hundred years. <s>We are shocked when we hear stories ofthe ill-treatment of lunatics, and there are now quite a number of asylums in which they are not ill-treated. Prisoners in Western countries are not supposed to be tortured, and when they are, there is an outcry if the facts are discovered. We do not approve of treating orphans as they are treated in Oliver Twist.</s>

* Perhaps the best hope for the future of mankind is that ways will be found of increasing the scope and intensity of sympathy.

* <s>Politics is concerned with herds rather than with individuals, and the passions which are important in politics are, therefore, those in which the various members of a given herd can feel alike.</s>

* <s>Killing an enemy in a modern war is a very expensive operation. If you consider how many Germans were killed in the late war, and how much the victors are paying in income tax, you can, by a sum in long division, discover the cost of a dead German, and you will find it considerable. In the East, it is true, the enemies of the Germans have secured the ancient advantages of turning out the defeated population and occupying their lands. The Western victors, however, have secured no such advantages. It is obvious that modern war is not good business from a financial point of view. Although we won both the world wars, we should now be much richer if they had not occured.</s> If men were actuated by self-interest, which they are not — except in the case of a few saints — the whole human race would cooperate.<s> There would be no more wars, no more armies, no more navies, no more atom bombs. There would not be armies of propagandists employed in poisoning the minds of Nation A against Nation B, and reciprocally of Nation B against Nation A. There would not be armies of officials at frontiers to prevent the entry of foreign books and foreign ideas, however excellent in themselves. There would not be customs barriers to ensure the existence of many small enterprises where one big enterprise would be more economic.</s> All this would happen very quickly if men desired their own happiness as ardently as they desired the misery of their neighbors.<s> But, you will tell me, what is the use of these utopian dreams ? Moralists will see to it that we do not become wholly selfish, and until we do the millennium will be impossible.</s>

* <s>I do not wish to seem to end upon a note of cynicism. I do not deny that there are better things than selfishness, and that some people achieve these things. I maintain, however, on the one hand, that there are few occasions upon which large bodies of men, such as politics is concerned with, can rise above selfishness, while, on the other hand, there are a very great many circumstances in which populations will fall below selfishness, if selfishness is interpreted as enlightened self-interest. And among those occasions on which people fall below self-interest are most of the occasions on which they are convinced that they are acting from idealistic motives. Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power. When you see large masses of men swayed by what appear to be noble motives, it is as well to look below the surface and ask yourself what it is that makes these motives effective. It is partly because it is so easy to be taken in by a facade of nobility that a psychological inquiry, such as I have been attempting, is worth making.</s> I would say, in conclusion, that if what I have said is right, the main thing needed to make the world happy is intelligence. And this, after all, is an optimistic conclusion, because intelligence is a thing that can be fostered by known methods of education.

I also added a few quotes which contain some "fat", and that could be deleted, such as the following:

* [Unlike the] utilitarian... I judge pleasure and pain to be of small importance compared to knowledge, the appreciation and contemplation of beauty, and a certain intrinsic excellence of mind which, apart from its practical effects, appears to me to deserve the name of virtue. <s>[For] many years it seemed to me perfectly self-evident that pleasure is the only good and pain the only evil. Now, however, the opposite seems to me self-evident. What first turned me away from utilitarianism was the persuasion that I myself ought to pursue philosophy, although I had (and have still) no doubt that by doing economics and the theory of politics I could add more to human happiness. It appeared to me that the dignity of which human existence is capable is not attainable by devotion to the mechanism of life, and that unless the contemplation of eternal things is preserved, mankind will become no better than well-fed pigs. But I do not believe that such contemplation on the whole tends to happiness. It gives moments of delight, but these are outweighed by years of effort and depression.</s>

* <s>Again, in regard to actual human existence, I have found myself giving honour to those who feel its tragedy, who think truly about Death, who are oppressed by ignoble things even when they are inevitable; yet these qualities appear to me to militate against happiness, not only to the possessors, but to all whom they affect. And, generally, the best life seems to me one which thinks truly and feels greatly about human things, and which, in addition, contemplates the world of beauty and of abstract truths. This last is, perhaps, my most anti-utilitarian opinion:</s> I hold all knowledge that is concerned with things that actually exist – all that is commonly called Science – to be of very slight value compared to the knowledge which, like philosophy and mathematics, is concerned with ideal and eternal objects, and is freed from this miserable world which God has made.

* <s>The Ten Commandments that, as a teacher, I should wish to promulgate, might be set forth as follows: 1.</s> Do not feel absolutely certain of anything. <s>2. Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light. 3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed. 4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavour to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory. 5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found. 6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you. 7.</s> Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric. <s>8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent that in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter. 9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it. 10.</s> Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.

* <s>Friends, This is an occasion that I hardly know how to find words for. I am more touched than I can say, and more deeply than I can ever hope to express. I have to give my very warmest possible thanks to those who have worked to produce this occasion: to the performers, whose exquisite music, exquisitely performed, was so full of delight; to those who worked in less conspicuous ways, like my friend Mr Schoenman; and to all those who have given me gifts — gifts which are valuable in themselves, and also as expressions of an undying hope for this dangerous world.</s> I have a very simple creed: that life and joy and beauty are better than dusty death<s>, and I think when we listen to such music as we heard today we must all of us feel that the capacity to produce such music, and the capacity to hear such music, is a thing worth preserving and should not be thrown away in foolish squabbles. You may say it's a simple creed, but I think everything important is very simple indeed. I've found that creed sufficient, and I should think that a great many of you would also find it sufficient, or else you would hardly be here. But now I just want to say how it's difficult, when one has embarked upon a course which invites a greater or less degree of persecution and obloquy and abuse, to find instead that one is welcomed as I have been today. It makes one feel rather humble, and I feel I must try to live up to the feelings that have produced this occasion. I hope I shall; and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.</s>
{{hab}}

That's a start. I think it is possible to trim the article even further, but I would like to hear your thoughts first. Thank you for your consideration.

Best wishes, [[User:Daniel Tomé|Daniel Tomé]] ([[User talk:Daniel Tomé|talk]]) 21:41, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

: Hi Daniel, I just read the [http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:UDScott&oldid=1525839#Bertrand_Russell_.28wikiquote_article.29_Split previous discussion] you had, and I must say I am not convinced about the need to trim this article. I do approve with the splitting of the article, since the article could be considered to long to navigate. If it was up to me I would split this article even more. If you experience the problem that important quotes are no longer in this article, there are different options. For example putting some of those quotes back in this "main article". -- [[User:Mdd|Mdd]] ([[User talk:Mdd|talk]]) 21:53, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

Dear Mdd, thank you for your input. Yes, that is a very good suggestion (which [[User:UDScott|UDScott]] happened to mention in our discussion), and one that I think we should indeed follow, if there are important quotes in other pages that should appear in the main article, as is the case now.

Anyhow, I should like to ask you why you said that you are "not convinced about the need to trim this article", but you would still "split this article even more" if it was up to you. Couldn't trimming be a good (better) way to reduce the size of the article, or are you opposed to trimming on principle? Thanks. ~ [[User:Daniel Tomé|Daniel Tomé]] ([[User talk:Daniel Tomé|talk]]) 22:12, 22 January 2013 (UTC) 22:11, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

: In short, I think splitting articles creates new possibilities, while trimming articles could create all sorts of conflicts. Articles or sections should be trimmed if there are copyright concerns, but if not why bother? Put your limited energy in the exploration of those new possibilities; for example, improve those new articles here, or create new Wikipedia article about those separate books. -- [[User:Mdd|Mdd]] ([[User talk:Mdd|talk]]) 22:49, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

Dear Mdd, please let us not change the subject (such as what I should do with my time). For the record, I do plan to contribute to the Wikiquote pages of Russell's books, in the future. In fact, I remember adding to "[[A History of Western Philosophy]]" a few quotes about Nietzsche, after reading the book, not so long ago. In any case, one could wonder what is the point of contributing to a page that only very few people read (and which is even longer than the [[Bertrand Russell]] article), when there is still so much room for improvement in the main page.

Indeed, my answer to your question ("if not why bother?") is that I care about the quality of the [[Bertrand Russell]] main article. (I am sure you do too, of course.) Given that its main page is so long, if there is "fat" in it that could be removed (as I think there is — see above), without any controversy, to give way to more important quotes, I would not mind to put my "limited energy" into that work. I hope that clears up my intentions, so that we can once again focus on suggestions to improve the article.
Best wishes, ~ [[User:Daniel Tomé|Daniel Tomé]] ([[User talk:Daniel Tomé|talk]]) 00:17, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

: Where do you get the idea that the quotes (you selected) could be removed "without any controversy"? I haven't checked the history of those quotes, so I ask you: Are these quotes you added to the article, and don't you find them interesting any more? Or are you judging contributions by others? If so I find it very disturbing, that you put yourself in that position: Developing Wikiquote is no exact science, there is not one objective, not one sense of quality. -- [[User:Mdd|Mdd]] ([[User talk:Mdd|talk]]) 00:59, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

:: I took a closer look at Russell's Nobel Lecture, "What Desires Are Politically Important?". That [http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Bertrand_Russell&oldid=1525090#What_Desires_Are_Politically_Important.3F_.281950.29 section in the current article] contains about 3310 words, while [http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1950/russell-lecture.html the Noble lecture] at nobelprize.org contains 5708 words. Now this seem to be quite a violation of [[Wikiquote:Limits on quotations]]. Here you seem to have a legitimate argument to trim this section, if I am not mistaken. -- [[User:Mdd|Mdd]] ([[User talk:Mdd|talk]]) 01:55, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

Hello Mdd. First let me apologize for my last reply to you. (It had been a long day, my brain was tired, and apparently I couldn't think properly). I should have phrased it better, and I hope that you weren't offended by it.
Now, to answer your questions: note that, before saying "without any controversy", I wrote "''if''". I do want to hear your thoughts first, and see if that is indeed something that should be trimmed.

As to the origin of the quotes, the ones from "What Desires Are Politically Important?" were not added by myself (the others were). You say that my judging the contributions by others is "very disturbing", and, to a point, I agree with you (though I would have chosen different words). However, having read through the whole [[Bertrand Russell]] article twice, I do think that it is possible to trim it (see above). But note that all I have done is ask you to consider that. I did not go ahead and delete any quotes without explanation. Besides, it is not as if I would enjoy deleting any quote. I very much respect and admire all contributors. Please don't think that I would suggest trimming quotes lightly.

That is not to say that I do not think we should discuss it. I do, especially now that important sections are being moved to other pages (and, it seems, everyone agrees that the page is too long). That is why I respectfully asked your consideration of the above proposal. And it appears that you agree with me that it is sensible (at least concerning "What Desires Are Politically Important?"). Best regards, [[User:Daniel Tomé|Daniel Tomé]] ([[User talk:Daniel Tomé|talk]]) 13:38, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

: I too am loathe to trim the page - usually, my trimming efforts are confined to works like films or TV shows, where copyright concerns are the drivers. In this case, I would again recommend continuing to split out works that contain enough quotes to support their own page. If, as you have suggested, you feel it is important to retain key quotes on the main author page, I would suggest you do so in the manner that was done on other prodigious author's pages (see how ''Crime and Punishment'' was handled on [[Fyodor_Dostoevsky#Crime_and_Punishment_.281866.29|Dostoevsky's page]] for an example) where a sampling of key quotes is repeated on the author's page (as well as on the page for the work), with a note stating that these and additional quotes may be found on another page. ~ [[User:UDScott|UDScott]] ([[User talk:UDScott|talk]]) 14:45, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

:: Template {{tl|main}} is useful for this. I would recommend keeping the number of duplicated quotes to a minimum, ordinarily two or three. ~ [[User:Ningauble|Ningauble]] ([[User talk:Ningauble|talk]]) 15:00, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

OK, no trimming. I will try to follow [[User:UDScott|UDScott]]'s suggestion, and see if it works out well. Thanks. [[User:Daniel Tomé|Daniel Tomé]] ([[User talk:Daniel Tomé|talk]]) 15:33, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

: I have just tried to implicate (with my latest comment), that it seems we should trim [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell#What_Desires_Are_Politically_Important.3F_.281950.29 What Desires Are Politically Important? (1950)] section for copyvio reasons. -- [[User:Mdd|Mdd]] ([[User talk:Mdd|talk]]) 15:52, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

:: Ah yes, you may be correct on that one. But I'll leave that to someone more expert on these matters. ~ [[User:UDScott|UDScott]] ([[User talk:UDScott|talk]]) 16:37, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

::: Ok, there could be reason for more concern here? Some quotes exceed the maximum of 250 words per quote, and for example the [[A History of Western Philosophy]] article contains about 29.000 words, while the original is about 360.000 words. This is about 8%, far more then the "1.25% of the total content of a book" the [[Wikiquote:Limits on quotations]] mentions. -- [[User:Mdd|Mdd]] ([[User talk:Mdd|talk]]) 18:25, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

:::: Again, this is not my area - I would try to bring [[User:BD2412|BD2412]] into the conversation, as he has knowledge in this area and has commented extensively on it in the past. ~ [[User:UDScott|UDScott]] ([[User talk:UDScott|talk]]) 18:28, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

::::: I am very much tempted to trim the "What Desires Are Politically Important?" section, to be honest, for the reasons mentioned above, in particular because it is almost a copy/paste of the Nobel lecture and, as such, it not only takes (unproportionally) too much space of the main article, but is also a copyright violation. ~ [[User:Daniel Tomé|Daniel Tomé]] ([[User talk:Daniel Tomé|talk]]) 14:43, 16 February 2013 (UTC)

::::: It has been a while (three weeks or so) since [[User:Mdd|Mdd]] pointed out the copyvio issue and no one has done a thing about it, so I will contradict myself here and trim that section now just to show that it can be done without anything important being lost. Indeed, I will go ahead and make a few controversial edits to the page; please do feel free to revert my work, of course, but note that I am just trying to improve the page, as you all are. ~ [[User:Daniel Tomé|Daniel Tomé]] ([[User talk:Daniel Tomé|talk]]) 15:20, 16 February 2013 (UTC)

::::: For the record, the section "What Desires Are Politically Important? (1950)", as you can see, was only slightly trimmed. After my last edit, it still contains well over 30% of the original text (which is nowhere close to 1.25%). ~ [[User:Daniel Tomé|Daniel Tomé]] ([[User talk:Daniel Tomé|talk]]) 16:21, 16 February 2013 (UTC)

:::::: Hi Daniel, thanks for being bold and setting things in motion again. I think there are multiple issues here.

::::::# ''Possible copyvio in this article'' : We are far from sure about that. American copyright is rather complicated, especially because the copyright of a lot of 20th century works (from after 1923) had to be renewed in 1976 (if I am not mistaken). And this seems to be the case here, or not?.
::::::# ''Getting some expert opinion'' : We could need some (external) expert opinion here, but I am not going to ask for it without any approval
::::::# ''Limits on quotations'' : This is something only the Wikiquote community can decide on. We could propose a more permanent solution, and start a vote, for example.
::::::# ''Trimming of article sections'' : I think this should be handled with just as much care as creating articles. First some research is needed to check, which of the quotes are the most notable, and these should be preserved... etc.

:::::: -- [[User:Mdd|Mdd]] ([[User talk:Mdd|talk]]) 23:24, 16 February 2013 (UTC)

::::::: Yes, I agree with everything you say. I do appreciate you bringing up these legitimate concerns. I admit that maybe it was too hasty of me to make such an edit.

::::::: I am not much worried about copyright issues, at the moment, but I did read the Nobelprize.org [http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_organizations/nobelmedia/nobelprize_org/copyright/ statement]: ''The documents and materials presented at Nobelprize.org are generally protected by copyright and related rights or as trademarks and trade names. For use of such material, permission in writing from Nobel Media AB or the Nobel Foundation is required.'' and, in particular, ''To use or translate a Nobel Lecture, a presentation speech, a banquet speech or a biography, permission has to be granted by the Nobel Foundation.'' So, if possible, getting an expert opinion would indeed be wise. (My rationale was that the section, as it stood, had well over 50% of the original text intact, and plain common sense tells us that something is probably not right when Wiki'''quote''' (not Wikisource) has a section so large for a text so small.) Sincerely, [[User:Daniel Tomé|Daniel Tomé]] ([[User talk:Daniel Tomé|talk]]) 23:57, 16 February 2013 (UTC)

=== Trimming of the "What Desires Are Politically Important? (1950)" section ===

Hi Daniel, I tried to take a closer look at the [http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Bertrand_Russell&diff=1535540&oldid=1534488 edit, where you trimmed the section], and I noticed changes in at least three sections

# In the section "''The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism'' (1920)" section one ore more quotes seem to be rearranged
# The "''Sceptical Essays'' (1928)" seemed to be moved to a separate article, and the section here is severely trimmed
# Quotes in the "''What Desires Are Politically Important?'' (1950)" seems to be partly rearranged and partly trimmed
And within a day an other 17 smaller edits have been made on different parts of the article. Now I must admit I have the tendency to similar edit patterns, and for that I got [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/User_talk:Mdd#Advice_re._edit_summaries_and_large_edits some advice] the other day, which would suite here as well: Split larger edits in multiple parts. In order to let others participate, it's important to have a (simple) understanding what exactly has been trimmed. And it would be nice if no more new edits are made, especially if it's already under debate om the talk page. -- [[User:Mdd|Mdd]] ([[User talk:Mdd|talk]]) 13:28, 17 February 2013 (UTC)
:Hi. Sorry for the confusion, but yes I did the slight trimming in only '''one''' [http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Bertrand_Russell&diff=prev&oldid=1535540 edit], the same one where I moved the content of a book (''Unpopular Essays'') to another page, so please see the section "What Desires Are Politically Important" there. As to the other two sections, specifically,
# In the section "''The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism'' (1920)", I just reduced the use of bold (I did not "rearrange" any quotes);
# The same goes for the section "''Sceptical Essays'' (1928)". No, it was not moved to a separate article, nor was it "severely trimmed". It is exactly the same as it was (only with less use of bold), except for one quote that appeared ''twice'', ''one'' of which I deleted to avoid repetition (namely ''What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite'').
The other/following edits are unrelated to this (they are basically just additions of pictures and quotes from different works). I won't stop making edits to the [[Bertrand Russell]] page just because of this issue, that would be silly; but I will certainly follow the advice "Split larger edits in multiple parts" to avoid confusion in the future. P.S. I have just finished adding back quotes to the "What Desires Are Politically Important" section, after consultation with [[User:Kalki|Kalki]]; I still think the text is probably too large, but I'll let others decide. Regards, ~ [[User:Daniel Tomé|Daniel Tomé]] ([[User talk:Daniel Tomé|talk]]) 13:46, 17 February 2013 (UTC)

== "Not enough evidence" ==

I believe the "Not enough evidence, God. Not enough evidence." quote is supported as genuine Russell. It had been listed under misattributed, and I deleted it today. I will leave it up to others whether it goes in as a true quote or as disputed. I believe it can be attributed, as this quote has been attested by his colleagues and was told frequently while he was alive. See Wesley C. Salmon's "Religion and Science: A New Look at Hume's 'Dialogues'" in ''Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition,'' Vol. 33, No. 2 (Feb., 1978), pp. 176. Salmon relates the story in a footnote. — [[User:BenjerMcVeigh]] 17:20, 1 Nov 2016 (UTC)

: It's a famous quote, so (whether it be genuine or spurious) it shouldn't be deleted from the article. I [https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Bertrand_Russell&diff=2188192&oldid=2188176 moved it] to the "Attributed" section, retaining the source you mentioned. ~ [[User:DanielTom|DanielTom]] ([[User talk:DanielTom|talk]]) 18:19, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

== Corrected typo in "Why I Am Not a Christian" ==

In the section "Why I Am Not a Christian", I corrected

"Science can teach us, and I think our own hears can teach us"

to "Science can teach us, and I think our own hearts can teach us".

Per ''Why I Am Not a Christian : And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects'', Bertrand Russell. Simon and Schuster, 1957. Page 22.

- [[Special:Contributions/189.122.238.134|189.122.238.134]] 23:21, 3 January 2019 (UTC)

== Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely of to think sanely under the influence of a great fear. ==

"'''Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely of to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.'''" ~ Bertrand Russel

Not only is this quote a popular image meme (on [https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Neither+a+man+nor+a+crowd+nor+a+nation+can+be+trusted+to+act+humanely+of+to+think+sanely+under+the+influence+of+a+great+fear&iar=images DuckDuckGo] and [https://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&q=Neither+a+man+nor+a+crowd+nor+a+nation+can+be+trusted+to+act+humanely+of+to+think+sanely+under+the+influence+of+a+great+fear Google]), it's been used at the end of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzBFByOzIrs this video]. Considering these strange times, I'd like to see it verified or explained. ~ [[User:JasonCarswell|JasonCarswell]] ([[User talk:JasonCarswell|talk]]) 18:11, 23 September 2020 (UTC)

:This is from Russell's "An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish" in ''[[Unpopular Essays]]''. ~ [[User:DanielTom|DanielTom]] ([[User talk:DanielTom|talk]]) 19:34, 23 September 2020 (UTC)

Customer

2018-08-17T19:58:01Z

Dread83: Undo revision 2360106 by 103.102.252.6 (talk)

[[File:SteveJobsMacbookAir.JPG|thumb|right|You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new. -- - [[Steve Jobs]], 1989.]]
A '''[[:w:Customer|customer]]''' (sometimes known as a '''client''', '''buyer''', or '''purchaser''') is the recipient of a good, service, product, or idea, obtained from a seller, vendor, or supplier for a monetary or other valuable consideration.
__NOTOC__
:'''CONTENT''' : [[#A - F|A - F]] , [[#G - L|G - L]] , [[#M - R|M - R]] , [[#S - Z|S - Z]] , [[#See also|See also]] , [[#External links|External links]]

== Quotes ==
:''Quotes are arranged alphabetically by author''

=== A - F ===
*The best customer service is if the customer doesn't need to call you, doesn't need to talk to you. It just works.
**[[Jeff Bezos]] in:''[http://books.google.co.in/books?id=bjfmtrebNI0C&pg=PA6 Managing Human Resources]'', Cengage Learning, 16 June 2011, p. 6

* Everybody knows by now, all [[businessmen]] are completely full of shit; just the worst kind of low-life, criminal, cocksuckers you could ever wanna' run into – a fuckin' piece of shit businessman. And the proof of it, the proof of it is, they don't even trust each other. They don't trust one another. When a business man sits down to negotiate a deal, the first thing he does is to automatically assume that the other guy is a complete lying prick who's trying to fuck him outta his money. So he's gotta do everything he can to fuck the other guy a little bit faster and a little bit harder. And he's gotta do it with a big smile on his face. You know that big, bullshit businessman smile? And if you're a customer – Whoah! – that's when you get the really big smile. Customer always gets that really big smile, as the businessman carefully positions himself directly behind the customer, and unzips his pants, and proceeds to service...the...account. 'I am servicing this account. This customer needs service.' Now you know what they mean. Now you know what they mean when they say, 'We specialize in customer service.' Whoever coined the phrase 'let the buyer beware' was probably bleeding from the asshole. That's business.
** [[George Carlin]], ''You Are All Diseased'' (1999)

* We had to be able to make a [[decision]] like ''that,'' without reprocessing all of our learning. So we take a small slice of information and a profile of the customer, set up a promotion, prime up the customer's history, and wait for the events. It primes up just the right amount of information in real time... [A system like that,] might not be as precise, but it would be statistically good enough. Maybe it would be wrong five percent of the time, but that's okay. It would be more like making judgment calls.
** [[Sumit Chowdhury]] In: Vivek Ranadive, ‎Kevin Maney (2011) ''The Two-Second Advantage: How We Succeed by Anticipating the Future--Just Enough.'' p. 109-10

* We contest the conclusions of scholars such as Tushman and Anderson (1986), who have argued that incumbent firms are most threatened by attacking entrants when the innovation in question destroys, or does not build upon, the competence of the firm. We observe that established firms, though often at great cost, have led their industries in developing critical competence-destroying technologies, when the new technology was needed to meet existing customers’ demands.... Our findings support many of the conclusions of the resource dependence theorists, who contend that a firm's scope for strategic change is strongly bounded by the interests of external entities (customers, in this study) who provide the resources the firm needs to survive.
** [[Clayton M. Christensen]], Bower, J.L. (1996) "Customer power, strategic investment, and the failure of leading firms", ''Strategic Management Journal'', Vol. 17(3), p. 212)

* The customer is usually wrong; but statistics indicate that it doesn't pay to tell him so.
** [[Aleister Crowley]], ''[[w:Magick Without Tears|Magick Without Tears]]'' (1954), Ch XXI

* There is only one valid definition of a [[business]] [[purpose]]: ''to create a customer''.
** [[Peter Drucker]], ''The Practice of Management'' (1954), p. 37

*The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.
**[[Peter Drucker]] in: [[Philip Kotler]] ''[http://books.google.co.in/books?id=9Q_9NWurNmoC&pg=PA33 Standing Room Only: Strategies for Marketing the Performing Arts]'', Harvard Business Press, 1 January 1997, p. 33

* When [[w:Henry Ford|Henry Ford]] said, "The customer can have a car in any color as long as it's black," he was not joking.
** [[Peter Drucker]], ''MANAGEMENT: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices'' (1973), Chapter 17, pg.209

=== G - L ===
* Somewhere in the past. organizations were quite simple, and 'doing business' consisted of buying raw material from suppliers, converting into products, and selling it to customers... For the most part owner-entrepreneurs founded such simple business and worked along with members of their families. The family-dominated business still accounts for a large portion of the business start today.
** [[R. Edward Freeman]] (2007) ''Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach'' p. 5

* You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.
** [[Steve Jobs]], [http://www.inc.com/magazine/19890401/5602.html Interview with Inc. Magazine for its "The Entrepreneur of the Decade Award" (1 April 1989)]

*Our DNA is as a consumer company - for that individual customer who's voting thumbs up or thumbs down. That's who we think about. And we think that our job is to take responsibility for the complete user experience. And if it's not up to par, it's our fault, plain and simply.
**[[Steve Jobs]] in: Christine Lejre, Jesper Bove-Nielsen ''[http://books.google.co.in/books?id=fP03AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA38 Steve Jobs - Insanely Great Quotes]'', Libris Media A/S, 31 October 2011, p. 38

* Delighted customers are the only advertisement everyone believes.
** [[Ron Kaufman]], ''Lift Me UP! Service With A Smile,'' (2005)

* Your product is a starting point. A loyal customer is the goal.
** [[Ron Kaufman]], ''Lift Me UP! Service With A Smile,'' (2005)

* If customers leave without a purchase, you have not failed. But if customers leave without a smile, you have.
** [[Ron Kaufman]], ''Lift Me UP! Service With A Smile,'' (2005)

* The right measure is not how many customers you've got, but how closely you hold them.
** [[Ron Kaufman]], ''Lift Me UP! Service With A Smile,'' (2005)

* Customers can be asked about a products evolution, but not its revolution.
** Guy Kawasaki, ''12 Lessons Steve Jobs Taught Guy Kawasaki'', Speech at [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR_wX0EwOMM Silicon Valley Bank] (2011)

*A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all.
**[[w:Michael LeBoeuf|Michael LeBoeuf]] in: Dr. Narendra Kumar, e al., ''[http://books.google.co.in/books?id=745jD3UkO8MC&pg=PA22 Basics of retail Management]'', V K Publications, p. 22

*When you stop talking, you've lost your customer. When you turn your back, you've lost her.
**Estee Lauder in:''[http://books.google.co.in/books?id=JNrGdvLtBMEC&pg=PA69 Run your own business: Make your company a success with help from classic thinkers]'', Infinite Ideas, 04 May 2012, p. 69

* [[Industrial design]] keeps the customer happy, his client in the black and the designer busy.
** Raymond Loewy (ca. 1949); Cited in: Paul Greenhalgh (1993) ''Quotations and Sources on Design and the Decorative Arts.'' p. 117

=== M - R ===
*The golden rule for every business man is this: 'Put yourself in your customer's place.'
**[[Orison Swett Marden]] in: Mark Thompson, Brian TRACY ''[http://books.google.co.in/books?id=KrrqvwEiH6QC&pg=PA178 Now, Build a Great Business!: 7 Ways to Maximize Your Profits in Any Market]'', AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, 17 November 2010, p. 178

*Think about it: if you were running a multi-million dollar company, and your database of customer information was stolen, would you want to tell your clients? No. Most [US] companies did not until the laws required them to. It's in the best interest of organisations - when they're attacked and information is stolen - to tell nobody.
**[[w:Kevin Mitnick|Kevin Mitnick]] in: Mark Gregory, David Glance ''[http://books.google.co.in/books?id=uUe4AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 Security and the Networked Society]'', Springer Science & Business Media, 2013, p. 46

*Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement.
**[[w:James Cash Penney|James Cash Penney]] in: Alan L. Alford ''[http://books.google.co.in/books?id=RRYfV6O5_CcC&pg=PA73 $Ell Your Little Heart Out!]'', Xlibris Corporation, 1 October 2012, p. 71

* As far as the customer is concerned, the interface is the product.
** [[Jef Raskin]], ''The Humane Interface'' (2001)

=== S - Z ===
* [[Organization]]s are defined from the inside out: they are described by who reports to whom, by departments and processes and matrices and perks. A business, on the other hand, is defined from the outside in by markets, suppliers, customers, and competitors.
** [[w:Thomas A. Stewart|Thomas A. Stewart]], American business writer, management consultant. 'Introduction to the Paperback Edition', ''Intellectual Capital: The New Wealth of Organizations'' (1998).

* Pan Am takes good care of you. Marks & Spencer loves you. Securicor cares. I.B.M. says the customer is king. At Amstrad, we only want your money!
** [[Alan Sugar]] Quoted in the New York Times, September 28, 1987, from an earlier public speech.

*The toughest thing about the power of trust is that it's very difficult to build and very easy to destroy. The essence of trust building is to emphasize the similarities between you and the customer.
**[[Thomas J. Watson]] in:''[http://books.google.co.in/books?id=XkbJ461zDPcC&pg=PP4 Quotes by Watson Thomas J]'', Quotations Book, p. 4

* Users can work with analysts and object designers to formulate and tune system requirements. People from business, analytical and object design disciplines can come together, learn from each other and generate meaningful descriptions of systems that are to be built. Each participant and each project has slightly different concerns and needs. Practical application of use cases can go a long way to improve our ability to deliver just what the customer ordered.
** [[Rebecca Wirfs-Brock]], ''Designing scenarios: Making the case for a use case framework'' (1993); About ''Conclusion''

*There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.
**[[Sam Walton]], in Layna Fischer ''[http://books.google.co.in/books?id=gsOinwaSsvgC&pg=PA178 2010 BPM and Workflow Handbook]'', Future Strategies Inc., 2010, p. 178

*Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business.
**[[Zig Ziglar]] in: ''[http://books.google.co.in/books?id=xsr2tOCibWgC&pg=PT91 Smarter Branding Without Breaking the Bank: Five Proven Marketing Strategies You Can Use Right Now to Build Your Business at Little Or No Cost]'', eBookIt.com, 7 November 2011, p. 91

*I'm constantly amazed that owners and managers of all businesses don't train their people to call the person who pays by credit card by name. It definitely makes the customer feel good and will be a factor in bringing them back to your place of business.
**[[Zig Ziglar]] in:''[http://www.ziglar.com/newsletter/may-25-2010-edition-21 Zig On…Don't Miss This Opportunity]'', Ziglar.com, 25 May 2010

== See also ==
* [[Market]]

== External links ==
{{Wikipedia}}
{{Wiktionary|customer}}

[[Category:Business]]
[[Category:Commerce]]

Robert A. Heinlein

2010-03-07T13:44:45Z

Dread83:

[[File:RAHeinlein.autographing.Midamericon.ddb-371-14-750px.jpg|thumb|right|A generation which ignores history has no past — and no future.]]
[[File:Heinlein Tahiti 2.jpg|thumb|right|Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.]]
'''[[w:Robert A. Heinlein|Robert Anson Heinlein]]''' ([[7 July]] [[1907]] – [[8 May]] [[1988]]) was one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of [[w:science fiction|science fiction]] of the 20th Century.

See also pages for the novels:
:'''''[[Starship Troopers]]''''' (1959)
:'''''[[Stranger in a Strange Land]]''''' (1961)
:'''''[[Glory Road]]''''' (1963)
:'''''[[The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress]]''''' (1966)
:'''''[[Job: A Comedy of Justice]]''''' (1984)

== Sourced ==
[[File:Abell 520.PNG|144px|thumb|right|One can judge from experiment, or one can blindly accept authority. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all important and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits ...]]

* '''How can I possibly put a new idea into your heads, if I do not first remove your delusions?'''
** "Doctor Pinero" in ''[[w:Life-Line|Life-Line]]'' (1939)

* '''One can judge from experiment, or one can blindly accept authority. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all important and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits.''' To the academic mind, authority is everything and facts are junked when they do not fit theory laid down by authority.
** "Doctor Pinero" in ''Life-Line'' (1939)

* There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute or common law. '''Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back.'''
** ''Life-Line'' (1939)

* '''You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity.'''
** ''[[w:Logic of Empire|Logic of Empire]]'' (1941); this is one of the earliest known variants of an idea which has become known as ''[[w:Hanlon%27s_razor|Hanlon's razor]]''.

* An armed society is a polite society.
** ''[[w:Beyond This Horizon|Beyond This Horizon]]'' (1942)

* The whole principle is wrong. It's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't have steak.
** On censorship, in ''[[w:The Man Who Sold the Moon|The Man Who Sold the Moon]]'' (1949), p.188

* Every law that was ever written opened up a new way to graft.
** ''[[w:Red Planet (novel)|Red Planet]]'' (1949)

* '''Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's supposed to do.'''
**''[[w:Waldo & Magic, Inc.|Waldo & Magic, Inc.]]'' (1950)

* '''Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal.'''
** ''[[w:Assignment in Eternity|Assignment in Eternity]]'' (1953)

* Take sex away from people. Make it forbidden, evil. Limit it to ritualistic breeding. Force it to back up into suppressed sadism. Then hand the people a scapegoat to hate. Let them kill a scapegoat occasionally for cathartic release. The mechanism is ages old. Tyrants used it centuries before the word "psychology" was ever invented. It works, too.
** ''[[w:Revolt in 2100|Revolt in 2100]]'' (1953)

* '''The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed.'''
** ''[[w:Revolt in 2100|Revolt in 2100]]'' (1953), postscript

* The death rate is the same for us as for anybody ... one person, one death, sooner or later.
** ''[[w:Tunnel in the Sky|Tunnel in the Sky]]'' (1955), Captain Helen Walker, Ch. 2

* We lived like that "Happy Family" you sometimes see in traveling zoos: a lion caged with a lamb. It is a startling exhibit but the lamb has to be replaced frequently.
** ''[[w:Have Space Suit-Will Travel|Have Space Suit — Will Travel]]'' (1958)

* I also think there are prices too high to pay to save the United States. Conscription is one of them. Conscription is slavery, and I don't think that any people or nation has a right to save itself at the price of slavery for anyone, no matter what name it is called. We have had the draft for twenty years now; I think this is shameful. '''If a country can't save itself through the volunteer service of its own free people, then I say : Let the damned thing go down the drain!'''
** Guest of Honor Speech at the 29th World Science Fiction Convention, Seattle, Washington (1961)
** [http://www.quotableheinlein.com/html/home.html The Quotable Heinlein]

* I started clipping and filing by categories on trends as early as 1930 and my "youngest" file was started in 1945. Span of time is important; the 3-legged stool of understanding is held up by history, languages, and mathematics. Equipped with these three you can learn anything you want to learn. But if you lack any one of them you are just another ignorant peasant with dung on your boots.
** "The Happy Days Ahead" in ''[[w:Expanded Universe (Heinlein)|Expanded Universe]]'' (1980)

* Widows are far better than brides. They don't tell, they won't yell, they don't swell, they rarely smell, and they're grateful as hell.
** ''[[w:To Sail Beyond the Sunset|To Sail Beyond the Sunset]]'' (1987)

*How you behave toward cats here below determines your status in Heaven.
** ''[[w:To Sail Beyond the Sunset|To Sail Beyond the Sunset]]'' (1987)

* I would say that my position is not too far from that of [[Ayn Rand]]'s; that I would like to see government reduced to no more than internal police and courts, external armed forces — with the other matters handled otherwise. I'm sick of the way the government sticks its nose into everything, now.
** ''The Robert Heinlein Interview, and other Heinleiniana'' (1990) by [[w:J. Neil Schulman|J. Neil Schulman]]

* My wife Ticky is an anarchist-individualist ... When she was in the Navy during the early 'forties she showed up one morning in proper uniform but with her red hair held down by a simple navy-blue band — a hair ribbon. It was neat (Ticky is always neat) and it suited the rest of her outfit esthetically, but it was undeniably a hair ribbon and her division officer had fits. "If you can show me," Ticky answered with simple dignity, "where it says one word in the Navy Uniform Regulations on the subject of hair ribbons, I'll take it off. Otherwise not." See what I mean? She doesn't have the right attitude.
** ''[[w:Tramp Royale|Tramp Royale]]'' (1992)

=== ''[[w:The Puppet Masters|The Puppet Masters]]'' (1951) ===

* Listen, son. Most women are damn fools and children. But they've got more range than we've got. The brave ones are braver, the good ones are better — and the vile ones are viler, for that matter.
** The "Old Man" to "Sam", when discussing "Mary", chapter 11

* Don't ask me why it was top secret, or even restricted; our government has gotten the habit of classifying anything as secret which the all-wise statesmen and bureaucrats decide we are not big enough girls and boys to know, a Mother-Knows-Best-Dear policy. I've read that there used to be a time when a taxpayer could demand the facts on anything and get them. I don't know; it sounds Utopian.
** chapter 24

=== ''[[w:The Rolling Stones (novel)|The Rolling Stones]]'' (1952) ===
[[File:SonicBoom.jpg|144px|thumb|right|One could write a history of science in reverse by assembling the solemn pronouncements of highest authority about what could not be done and could never happen.]]

* '''Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done. One could write a history of science in reverse by assembling the solemn pronouncements of highest authority about what could not be done and could never happen.'''

* '''Free will is a golden thread running through the frozen matrix of fixed events.'''

=== ''[[w:Double Star|Double Star]]'' (1956) ===

* '''Aside from a cold appreciation of my own genius I felt that I was a modest man.'''

* '''I have never been impressed by the formal schools of ethics.''' I had sampled them — public libraries are a ready source of recreation for an actor short of cash — but I had found them as poor in vitamins as a mother-in-law’s kiss. Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything. I had the same contempt for the moral instruction handed to most children. Much of it is prattle and the parts they really seem to mean are dedicated to the sacred proposition that a “good” child is one who does not disturb mother’s nap and a “good” man is one who achieves a muscular bank account without getting caught. No, thanks!

* '''Take sides! Always take sides! You will sometimes be wrong — but the man who refuses to take sides must ''always'' be wrong.'''

* His bow to me must have been calculated on a slide rule; it suggested that I was about to be Supreme Minister but was not quite there yet, that I was his senior but nevertheless a civilian — then subtract five degrees for the fact that he wore the Emperor’s aiguillette on his right shoulder.

* Son, suppose you tend to your knitting and I tend to mine.

* People don’t really want change, any change at all — and xenophobia is very deep-rooted. But we progress, as we must — if we are to go out to the stars.

* '''There is solemn satisfaction in doing the best you can for eight billion people.''' Perhaps their lives have no cosmic significance, but they have feelings. They can hurt.

=== ''[[w:Methuselah's Children|Methuselah's Children]]'' (1958) ===

* '''Age is not an accomplishment, and youth is not a sin.'''

* No philosophy that he had ever heard or read gave any reasonable purpose for man's existence, nor any rational clue to his proper conduct. Basking in the sunshine might be as good a thing to do with one's life as any other — but it was not for him and he knew it, even if he could not define how he knew it.

* A committee is the only known form of life with a hundred bellies and no brain.

* '''Life is short, but the years are long.'''
** Part of the secret "call and response" codewords by which members of the long-lived [[w:Howard Families|Howard Families]] can identify others:
:: ''Life is short. But the years are long. '''Not while the evil days come not.'''''

=== ''[[w:Starship Troopers|Starship Troopers]]'' (1959) ===
:These are just a few samples; for more quotes from this work, see ''[[Starship Troopers]]''.

* '''Morals — all correct moral laws — derive from the instinct to survive. Moral behavior is survival behavior above the individual level.'''

* Correct morality can only be derived from what man is — not from what do-gooders and well-meaning aunt Nellies would like him to be.

=== ''[[w:Stranger in a Strange Land|Stranger in a Strange Land]]'' (1961; 1991) ===
:These are just a few samples; for more quotes from this work, see ''[[Stranger in a Strange Land]]'' 
* '''Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.'''
** "[[w:Jubal Harshaw|Jubal Harshaw]]" in the first edition (1961); the later 1991 "Uncut" edition didn't have this line, because it was one Heinlein had added when he went through and trimmed the originally submitted manuscript on which the "Uncut" edition is based. Heinlein also later used a variant of this in ''[[w:The Cat Who Walks Through Walls|The Cat Who Walks Through Walls]]'' where he has Xia quote Harshaw: "Dr. Harshaw says that 'the word "love" designates a subjective condition in which the welfare and happiness of another person are essential to one's own happiness.'"

* '''Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often confuses one for the other, or assumes the greater the love, the greater the jealousy. In fact they are almost incompatible; both at once produce unbearable turmoil.'''
** "Jubal Harshaw" in the first edition (1961); this is another line not in the "Uncut" edition of 1991 based on his original manuscripts, because this was one of the lines that Heinlein added, rather than trimmed down, during the editing process of the first edition.

* Ben, the ethics of sex is a thorny problem. Each of us is forced to grope for a solution he can live with — in the face of a preposterous, unworkable, and evil code of so-called "morals." Most of us know the code is wrong; almost everybody breaks it. But we pay Danegeld by feeling guilty and giving lip service. Willy-nilly, the code rides us, dead and stinking, an albatross around the neck. You, too, Ben. You fancy yourself a free soul — and break that evil code. But faced with a problem in sexual ethics new to you, you tested it against that same Judeo-Christian code ... so automatically your stomach did flip-flops ... and you think that proves you're right and they're wrong. Faugh! I'd as lief use trial by ordeal.
** "Jubal Harshaw"

*'''There comes a time in the life of every human when he or she must decide to risk "his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor" on an outcome dubious. Those who fail the challenge are merely overgrown children, can never be anything else.'''

=== ''[[w:Glory Road|Glory Road]]'' (1963) ===
:These are just a few samples; for more quotes from this work, see ''[[Glory Road]]''

* '''Logic is a feeble reed, friend.''' "Logic" proved that airplanes can't fly and that H-bombs won't work and that stones don't fall out of the sky. '''Logic is a way of saying that anything which didn't happen yesterday won't happen tomorrow.'''

* Democracy can't work. Mathematicians, peasants, and animals, that's all there is — so democracy, a theory based on the assumption that mathematicians and peasants are equal, can never work. '''Wisdom is not additive; its maximum is that of the wisest man in a given group.'''

=== ''[[w:The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress|The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress]]'' (1966) ===
:These are just a few sample quotations; for more quotes from this work, see ''[[The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress]]''

* '''A rational anarchist believes that concepts, such as "state" and "society" and "government" have no existence save as physically exemplified in the acts of self-responsible individuals.''' He believes that it is impossible to shift blame, share blame, distribute blame ... as blame, guilt, responsibility are matters taking place inside human beings singly and ''nowhere'' else. But being rational, he knows that not all individuals hold his evaluations, so he tries to live perfectly in an imperfect world ... aware that his efforts will be less than perfect yet undismayed by self-knowledge of self-failure.

* '''I will accept the rules that you feel necessary to your freedom. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.'''

* Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please. Rules, laws — always for ''other'' fellow. A murky part of us, something we had before we came down out of trees, and failed to shuck when we stood up. Because ''not one'' of those people said: Please pass this so that I won't be able to do something I know I should stop. Nyet, tovarishchee, was ''always'' something they hated to see neighbors doing. Stop them for their own good.

* '''TANSTAAFL'''.
** Acronym for "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch." The origin of this phrase is often misattributed to Heinlein or [[Milton Friedman]], but it actually dates back to at least the 1930s. Heinlein's contribution was to make the acronym for it.

=== ''[[w:Time Enough For Love|Time Enough for Love]]'' (1973) and ''[[w:The Notebooks of Lazarus Long|The Notebooks of Lazarus Long]]'' (1978)===
:Most, if not all, of these quotations are of the recurring Heinlein character "[[w:Lazarus Long|Lazarus Long]]", and most were labeled as from the "Excerpts from the Notebooks of Lazarus Long". Many of these were later published as a separate poster book. ''[[w:The Notebooks of Lazarus Long|The Notebooks of Lazarus Long]]'' (1978).

* '''Progress doesn't come from early risers — progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.'''

* $100 placed at 7 percent interest compounded quarterly for 200 years will increase to more than $100,000,000 — by which time it will be worth nothing.

* A "critic" is a man who creates nothing and thereby feels qualified to judge the work of creative men. There is logic in this; he is unbiased — he hates all creative people equally.

* A "pacifist male" is a contradiction in terms. Most self-described "pacifists" are not pacific; they simply assume false colors. When the wind changes, they hoist the Jolly Roger.

* '''A brute kills for pleasure. A fool kills from hate.'''

* '''A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity.'''

* A fake fortuneteller can be tolerated. But an authentic soothsayer should be shot on sight. Cassandra did not get half the kicking around she deserved.

* '''A generation which ignores history has no past — and no future.'''
** Paraphrased variant: A generation without history has no past — and no future.

* '''A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.'''
[[File:Sperm-egg.jpg|144px|thumb|right|A [[w:Zygote|zygote]] is a [[w:Gamete|gamete]]'s way of producing more gametes. This may be the purpose of the universe.]]

* A motion to adjourn is always in order.

* A poet who reads his verse in public may have other nasty habits.

* A touchstone to determine the actual worth of an "intellectual" — find out how he feels about astrology.

* A woman is not property, and husbands who think otherwise are living in a dreamworld.

* A [[w:Zygote|zygote]] is a [[w:Gamete|gamete]]'s way of producing more gametes. This may be the purpose of the universe.

* '''All men are created unequal.'''

* '''All societies are based on rules to protect pregnant women and young children. All else is surplusage, excrescence, adornment, luxury, or folly, which can — and must — be dumped in emergency to preserve this prime function.''' As racial survival is the only universal morality, no other basic is possible. Attempts to formulate a "perfect society" on any foundation other than "Women and children first!" is not only witless, it is automatically genocidal. Nevertheless, starry-eyed idealists (all of them male) have tried endlessly — and no doubt will keep on trying.

[[File:Apollo 11 launch.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it.]]

* '''A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill.'''

* '''Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it.'''

* Always store beer in a dark place.

* An elephant. A mouse built to government specifications.

* Any government will work if authority and responsibility are equal and coordinate. This does not insure "good" government; it simply insures that it will work. But such governments are rare — most people want to run things but want no part of the blame. This used to be called the "backseat-driver syndrome."

* Any priest or shaman must be presumed guilty until proved innocent.

* Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe, and not make messes in the house.

* Avoid making irrevocable decisions while tired or hungry. N.B.: Circumstances can force your hand. So think ahead!

* Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors — and miss.

* '''Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor.'''

* Beware of altruism. It is based on self-deception, the root of all evil.

* By the data to date, there is only one animal in the Galaxy dangerous to man — man himself. So he must supply his own indispensable competition. He has no enemy to help him.

* Certainly the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you; if you don't bet, you can't win.

* Cheops' Law: Nothing ever gets built on schedule or within budget.

* Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.

* '''Courage is the complement of fear. A man who is fearless cannot be courageous. (He is also a fool.)'''

* Darling, a true lady takes off her dignity with her clothes and does her whorish best. At other times you can be as modest and dignified as your persona requires.

* Dear, don't bore him with trivia or burden him with your past mistakes. The happiest way to deal with a man is never to tell him anything he does not need to know.

* '''Delusions are often functional.''' A mother's opinions about her children's beauty, intelligence, goodness, et cetera ad nauseam, keep her from drowning them at birth.

* Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How's that again? I missed something. Autocracy is based on the assumption that one man is wiser than a million men. Let's play that over again, too. Who decides?

* Do not handicap your children by making their lives easy.

* Does history record any case in which the majority was right?

[[File:RAH 1929 Yearbook.png|144px|thumb|right|Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.]]

* '''Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different.''' Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect. But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please — this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more! So learn to say No — and to be rude about it when necessary. Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. '''The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you. (This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)'''

* '''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.'''

* Early rising may not be a vice ... but it is certainly no virtue. The old saw about the early bird just goes to show that the worm should have stayed in bed.

* Everybody lies about sex.

* '''Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.'''

* '''Expertise in one field does not carry over into other fields. But experts often think so. The narrower their field of knowledge the more likely they are to think so.'''

* Get a shot off ''fast''. This upsets him long enough to let you make your second shot perfect.

* God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent — it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks, please. Cash and in small bills.

* History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.

* History has the relation to truth that theology has to religion — i.e., none to speak of.

* '''Human beings hardly ever learn from the experience of others.''' They learn; when they do, which isn't often, on their own, the hard way.

* I don't trust a man who talks about ethics when he is picking my pocket. But if he is acting in his own self-interest and says so, I have usually been able to work out some way to do business with him.

* If it can't be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion. It has long been known that one horse can run faster than another — but ''which one?'' Differences are crucial.

* If men were the automatons that behaviorists claim they are, the behaviorist psychologists could not have invented the amazing nonsense called "behaviorist psychology."

* If tempted by something that feels "altruistic," examine your motives and root out that self-deception. Then, if you still want to do it, wallow in it!

* If the universe has any purpose more important than topping a woman you love and making a baby with her hearty help, I've never heard of it.

* If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for, but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong. If this is too blind for your taste, consult some well-meaning fool (there is always one around) and ask his advice. Then vote the other way. This enables you to be a good citizen (if such is your wish) without spending the enormous amount of time on it that truly intelligent exercise of franchise requires.

* If you don't like yourself, you can't like other people.

* '''If you happen to be one of the fretful minority who can do creative work, never force an idea; you'll abort it if you do. Be patient and you'll give birth to it when the time is ripe. Learn to wait.'''

* In a mature society, "civil servant" is semantically equal to "civil master."

* It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so, and will follow it by suppressing opposition, subverting all education to seize early the minds of the young, and by killing, locking up, or driving underground all heretics.

* It is better to copulate than never.

[[File:Lion waiting in Nambia.jpg|144px|thumb|right|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.]]
* '''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.'''

* '''It's amazing how much "mature wisdom" resembles being too tired.'''

* Little girls, like butterflies, need no excuse.

* Masturbation is cheap, clean, convenient, and free of any possibility of wrongdoing — and you don't have to go home in the cold. But it's ''lonely''.

* Men are more sentimental than women. It blurs their thinking.

* '''Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.'''

* Money is a powerful aphrodisiac. But flowers work almost as well.

* Money is the sincerest of all flattery. Women love to be flattered. So do men.

* Most "scientists" are bottle washers and button sorters.

[[File:Buchenwald-J-Rouard-10.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.]]
* Moving parts in rubbing contact require lubrication to avoid excessive wear. Honorifics and formal politeness provide lubrication where people rub together. Often the very young, the untraveled, the naïve, the unsophisticated deplore these formalities as "empty," "meaningless," or "dishonest," and scorn to use them. No matter how "pure" their motives, they thereby throw sand into machinery that does not work too well at best.

* '''Never appeal to a man's "better nature." He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage.'''

<div id="pig">
* Never attempt to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.
</div>

* Never crowd youngsters about their private affairs — sex especially. When they are growing up, they are nerve ends all over, and resent (quite properly) any invasion of their privacy. Oh, sure, they'll make mistakes — but that's their business, not yours. (You made your own mistakes, did you not?)

* '''Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.'''

* "No man is an island — " Much as we may feel and act as Individuals, our race is — a single organism, always growing and branching — which must be pruned regularly to be healthy. This necessity need not be argued; anyone with eyes can see that any organism which grows without limit always dies in its own poisons. The only rational question is whether pruning is best done before or after birth. Being an incurable sentimentalist I favor the former of these methods — killing makes me queasy, even when it's a case of "He's dead and I'm alive and that's the way I wanted it to be." But this may be a matter of taste. Some shamans think that it is better to be killed in a war, or to die in childbirth, or to starve in misery, than never to have lived at all. They may be right. But I don't have to like it — and I don't.

* No state has an inherent right to survive through conscript troops and, in the long run, no state ever has. Roman matrons used to say to their sons: "Come back with your shield, or on it." Later on, this custom declined. So did Rome.

* Nursing does not diminish the beauty of a woman's breasts; it enhances their charm by making them look lived in and happy.

[[File:Joan_of_arc_burning_at_stake.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense.]]
* '''Of all the strange "crimes" that human beings have legislated out of nothing, "blasphemy"is the most amazing — with "obscenity" and "indecent exposure" fighting it out for second and third place.'''

* '''One man's "magic" is another man's engineering. "Supernatural" is a null word.'''

* '''One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.'''

* Peace is an extension of war by political means. Plenty of elbow room is pleasanter — and much safer.

* People who go broke in a big way never miss any meals. It is the poor jerk who is shy a half slug who must tighten his belt.

* ''Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.

* Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. '''The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.''' The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.

* Rub her feet.

* Sex should be friendly. Otherwise stick to mechanical toys; it's more sanitary.

* '''Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense.'''

* Small change can often be found under seat cushions.

[[File:Bigdayout crowd2.jpg|144px|thumb|right|The more you love, the more you ''can'' love ...]]
* Stupidity cannot be cured with money, or through education, or by legislation. Stupidity is not a sin, the victim can't help being stupid. But stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death, there is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity.

* Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed.

* The first time I was a drill instructor I was too inexperienced for the job — the things I taught those lads must have got some of them killed. War is too serious a matter to be taught by the inexperienced.

* '''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.'''

* The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history. The second most preposterous notion is that copulation is inherently sinful.

* '''The phrase "we (I) (you) simply must —" designates some thing that need not be done.''' "That goes without saying" is a red warning. "Of course" means you had best check it yourself. '''These small-change clichés and others like them, when read correctly, are reliable channel markers.'''

[[File:CL0024+17.jpg|144px|thumb|right|The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility. And vice versa.]]
* The profession of shaman has many advantages. It offers high status with a safe livelihood free of work in the dreary, sweaty sense. In most societies it offers legal privileges and immunities not granted to other men. But it is hard to see how a man who has been given a mandate from on High to spread tidings of joy to all mankind can be seriously interested in taking up a collection to pay his salary; it causes one to suspect that the shaman is on the moral level of any other con man. But it's lovely work if you can stomach it.

* The second best thing about space travel is that the distances involved make war very difficult, usually impractical, and almost always unnecessary. This is probably a loss for most people, since war is our race's most popular diversion, one which gives purpose and color to dull and stupid lives. But '''it is a great boon to the intelligent man who fights only when he must — never for sport.'''

* The shamans are forever yacking about their snake-oil "miracles." I prefer the [[w:Real McCoy|Real McCoy]] — a pregnant woman.

[[File:Heilbronn Lerchenbergtunnel 20060630.jpg|144px|thumb|right|There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will ''know''. So why fret about it?]]
* '''The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility. And vice versa.'''

* '''The two highest achievements of the human mind are the twin concepts of "loyalty" and "duty." Whenever these twin concepts fall into disrepute — get out of there fast! You may possibly save yourself, but it is too late to save that society. It is doomed.'''

* There are hidden contradictions in the minds of people who "love Nature" while deploring the "artificialities" with which "Man has spoiled 'Nature.'" The obvious contradiction lies in their choice of words, which imply that Man and his artifacts are not part of "Nature" — but beavers and their dams are. But the contradictions go deeper than this prima-facie absurdity. In declaring his love for a beaver dam (erected by beavers for beavers' purposes) and his hatred for dams erected by men (for the purposes of men) the Naturist reveals his hatred for his own race — i.e., his own self-hatred. In the case of "Naturists" such self-hatred is understandable; they are such a sorry lot. But hatred is too strong an emotion to feel toward them; pity and contempt are the most they rate. As for me, willy-nilly I am a man, not a beaver, and H. sapiens is the only race I have or can have. Fortunately for me, I like being part of a race made up of men and women — it strikes me as a fine arrangement — and perfectly "natural" Believe it or not, there were "Naturists" who opposed the first flight to old Earth's Moon as being "unnatural" and a "despoiling of Nature."

[[File:Hoag's object.jpg|144px|thumb|right|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.]]
* '''There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will ''know''. So why fret about it?'''

* There is no such thing as "social gambling." Either you are there to cut the other bloke's heart out and eat it — or you're a sucker. If you don't like this choice — don't gamble.

* There is only one way to console a widow. But remember the risk.

* Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as "bad luck."

* '''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.'''

[[File:Aurora borealis in a lab dsc04517.jpg|144px|thumb|right|You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!]]
* '''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.

* What a wonderful world it is that has girls in it!

* '''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!'''

* '''When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away.''' It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere.

[[File:010712 STS104 Atlantis launch glow.jpg|144px|thumb|right|You live and learn. Or you don't live long.]]
* When the need arises — and it does — you must be able to shoot your own dog. Don't farm it out — that doesn't make it nicer, it makes it worse.

* Whenever women have insisted on absolute equality with men, they have invariably wound up with the dirty end of the stick. What they are and what they can do makes them superior to men, and their proper tactic is to demand special privileges, all the traffic will bear. They should never settle merely for equality. For women, "equality" is a disaster.

* Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of — but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.

* '''You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once.'''

* '''You live and learn. Or you don't live long.'''

* '''Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate — and quickly.'''

* Pessimist by policy, optimist by temperament — it is possible to be both. How? By never taking an unnecessary chance and by minimizing risks you can’t avoid. This permits you to play out the game happily, untroubled by the certainty of the outcome.

=== The Pragmatics of Patriotism (1973) ===
:Quotations from Heinlein's address at the U.S. Naval Academy (5 April 1973), published in ''Expanded Universe'' (1980)

[[File:Hamadryas Baboon.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Selfishness is the bedrock on which all moral behavior starts and it can be immoral only when it conflicts with a higher moral imperative. ... The next higher level is to work, fight, and sometimes die for your own immediate family.]]
* In this complex world, science, the scientific method, and the consequences of the scientific method are central to everything the human race is doing and to wherever we are going. '''If we blow ourselves up we will do it by misapplication of science; if we manage to keep from blowing ourselves up, it will be through intelligent application of science.'''

* Patriotism is not sentimental nonsense. Nor something dreamed up by demagogues. Patriotism is as necessary a part of man's evolutionary equipment as are his eyes, as useful to the race as eyes are to the individual.

* I now define "moral behavior" as "behavior that tends toward survival." I won't argue with philosophers or theologians who choose to use the word "moral" to mean something else, but '''I do not think anyone can define "behavior that tends toward extinction" as being "moral" without stretching the word "moral" all out of shape.'''

[[File:Persischer leopard2cele4.jpg |thumb|left|Evolution is a process that never stops. Baboons who fail to exhibit moral behavior do not survive; they wind up as meat for leopards.]]
* '''Selfishness is the bedrock on which all moral behavior starts and it can be immoral only when it conflicts with a higher moral imperative.''' An animal so poor in spirit that he won't even fight on his own behalf is already an evolutionary dead end; the best he can do for his breed is to crawl off and die, and not pass on his defective genes.

[[File:ShuttlePlumeAtSunset.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Many short-sighted fools think that going to the Moon was just a stunt. But the astronauts knew the meaning of what they were doing ...]]
* The next higher level is to work, fight, and sometimes die for your own immediate family. This is the level at which six pounds of mother cat can be so fierce that she'll drive off a police dog. It is the level at which a father takes a moonlighting job to keep his kids in college — and the level at which a mother or father dives into a flood to save a drowning child ... and it is still moral behavior even when it fails.

* '''Evolution is a process that never stops. Baboons who fail to exhibit moral behavior do not survive; they wind up as meat for leopards.'''

* The next level in moral behavior higher than that exhibited by the baboon is that in which duty and loyalty are shown toward a group of your own kind too large for an individual to know all of them. We have a name for that. It is called "patriotism."

* Behaving on a still higher moral level were the astronauts who went to the Moon, for their actions tend toward the survival of the entire race of mankind.

* '''Many short-sighted fools think that going to the Moon was just a stunt.''' But the astronauts knew the meaning of what they were doing, as is shown by [[Neil Armstrong]]'s first words in stepping down onto the soil of Luna: "'''One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.'''"

* '''Men are expendable; women and children are not.''' A tribe or a nation can lose a high percentage of its men and still pick up the pieces and go on ... as long as the women and children are saved. But if you fail to save the women and children, you've had it, you're done, you're through! You join Tyrannosaurus Rex, one more breed that bilged its final test.

[[File:Halo in cirrostratus 1.jpg|144px|thumb|right|He was still trying to save this woman he had never seen before in his life, right up to the very instant the train killed him. And that's all we'll ever know about him. This is how a man dies. This is how a man ... lives!]]
* '''I said that "Patriotism" is a way of saying "Women and children first." And that no one can force a man to feel this way. Instead he must embrace it freely.''' I want to tell about one such man. He wore no uniform and no one knows his name, or where he came from; all we know is what he did. In my home town sixty years ago when I was a child, my mother and father used to take me and my brothers and sisters out to [[w:Swope Park|Swope Park]] on Sunday afternoons. It was a wonderful place for kids, with picnic grounds and lakes and a zoo. But a railroad line cut straight through it. One Sunday afternoon a young married couple were crossing these tracks. She apparently did not watch her step, for she managed to catch her foot in the frog of a switch to a siding and could not pull it free. Her husband stopped to help her. But try as they might they could not get her foot loose. While they were working at it, a tramp showed up, walking the ties. He joined the husband in trying to pull the young woman's foot loose. No luck — Out of sight around the curve a train whistled. Perhaps there would have been time to run and flag it down, perhaps not. In any case both men went right ahead trying to pull her free ... and the train hit them. The wife was killed, the husband was mortally injured and died later, the tramp was killed — and testimony showed that neither man made the slightest effort to save himself. '''The husband's behavior was heroic ... but what we expect of a husband toward his wife: his right, and his proud privilege, to die for his woman. But what of this nameless stranger? Up to the very last second he could have jumped clear. He did not. He was still trying to save this woman he had never seen before in his life, right up to the very instant the train killed him. And that's all we'll ever know about him. This is how a man dies. This is how a man ... lives!'''

=== ''[[w:Friday (novel)|Friday]]'' (1983) ===

* Friday, don't despise assassins indiscriminately. As with any tool, merit ''or'' demerit lies in how it is used. 

* All normal human beings have ''soi-disant'' mixed-up glands. The race is divided into two parts: those who know this and those who do not.
** Ch. XXI, p. 214

[[File:Collage.jpg|144px|thumb|right|A skillful Artist in shapes and appearances does no more than necessary to create His effect.]]
* '''Geniuses and supergeniuses always make their own rules on sex as on everything else; they do not accept the monkey customs of their lessers.'''
** Ch. XXI, p. 214

*A religion is sometime a source of happiness, and I would not deprive anyone of happiness. But it is a comfort appropriate for the weak, not for the strong. The great trouble with religion — any religion — is that a religionist, having accepted certain propositions by faith, cannot thereafter judge those propositions by evidence. One may bask at the warm fire of faith or choose to live in the bleak uncertainty of reason — but one cannot have both.

=== ''[[w:Job: A Comedy of Justice|Job: A Comedy of Justice]]'' (1984) ===
:These are just a few sample quotations, for more from this work, see ''[[Job: A Comedy of Justice]]''

* '''Wisdom includes not getting angry unnecessarily. The Law ignores trifles and the wise man does, too.'''

* '''Time is never a problem on the God level. Or space.''' Whatever needed to deceive you was provided. But no more than that. That is the conservative principle in art at the God level. While I can't do it, not being at that level, I have seen a lot of it done. '''A skillful Artist in shapes and appearances does no more than necessary to create His effect.'''

=== ''[[w:The Cat Who Walks Through Walls|The Cat Who Walks Through Walls]]'' (1985) ===
[[File:Light dispersion conceptual.gif|144px|thumb|right|Once you can honestly say, "I don't know", then it becomes possible to get at the truth.]]
* When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.
** Richard Ames; chapter 2, p. 24

* I usually read the obituaries first as there is always the happy chance that one of them will make my day.
** Richard Ames; chapter 3, p. 27

* A monarch's neck should always have a noose around it. It keeps him upright.
** Richard Ames; chapter 9, p. 108

* Premenstrual Syndrome: Just before their periods women behave the way men do all the time.
** credited to Lowell Stone, M.D., born 2144; chapter 15, p. 185

* Women seem to have almost unlimited capacity for forgiveness. (Since it is usually a man who needs forgiveness, this must be a racial survival trait.)
** Richard Ames; chapter 16, p. 200

[[File:Ojos de gato.JPG|144px|thumb|right|Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat.]]
* '''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.
** Gwen Novak (Hazel Stone); chapter 18, p. 230

* How can you argue with a woman who won't?
** Richard Ames; chapter 19, p. 235

* '''Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat.'''

== Quotes about Heinlein ==

* '''Several years ago, when I was ill, Heinlein offered his help, anything he could do, and we had never met; he would phone me to cheer me up and see how I was doing. He wanted to buy me an electric typewriter, God bless him — one of the few true gentlemen in this world.''' I don't agree with any ideas he puts forth in his writing, but that is neither here nor there. One time when I owed the IRS a lot of money and couldn't raise it, Heinlein loaned the money to me. I think a great deal of him and his wife; I dedicated a book to them in appreciation. Robert Heinlein is a fine-looking man, very impressive and very military in stance; you can tell he has a military background, even to the haircut. He knows I'm a flipped-out freak and still he helped me and my wife when we were in trouble. '''That is the best in humanity, there; that is who and what I love.'''
**[[Philip K. Dick]], in the introduction to the 1980 short story collection ''[[w:The Golden Man|The Golden Man]]''.

* I found Robert A. Heinlein in back issues of ''Astounding'', and also in ''The Saturday Evening Post'', and I read everything of his I could find. I was completely hooked on his "juveniles": ''Space Cadet''. ''Red Planet''. ''Starman Jones''. ''Between Planets''. ''Farmer in the Sky''. Wonderful stories, and the only thing "juvenile" about them was that he took the trouble to explain what was happening. Robert once told me that young people want to know how things work, and you can tell them more in a "juvenile" than you can in an adult novel. In any event I devoured everything of his I could find, through high school, the army, college, and I couldn’t have cared less that many were "juveniles". They were wonderful. I met Robert Heinlein years later, and through some kind of rare magic we became instant friends. We corresponded for a decade. In those days I was an engineering psychologist, operations research specialist, and systems engineer in aerospace. Most of my work was military aerospace, but I did get to work on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. We were helping to make the dream come true! I went from there to a professorship, and then into political management and city government. Robert visited me when I was working for Mayor [[w:Samuel William Yorty|Sam Yorty]]. "You probably don’t know this," he said, "but my political career ended when Yorty beat me for the Democratic nomination to the State Assembly." When I finally decided to get out of politics, academia, and the aerospace industry and try my hand at writing, Mr. Heinlein was enormously helpful. Years later, when I was an established writer, I asked him how I could pay him back. "You can’t," he said. "'''You don’t pay back, you pay forward.'''" I never forgot that, just as I never forgot the wonderful things his ‘juvenile’ stories did for me.
** [[Jerry Pournelle]], in [http://www.jerrypournelle.com/slowchange/Starsintro.html "Starswarm" (1997)]

* '''Heinlein presents us, in terms of his sources and influences with a rope of many strands and the strength of the whole is in the multiplicity of the strands.''' To lift one strand out and examine it has two immediate effects: it magnifies the relative importance out of proportion to its place in the whole; and it weakens the whole. For all the good and interesting use Heinlein made of his encounter with [[James Branch Cabell|Cabell]], he was not a disciple or even a "Cabell minor." Rather, he used Cabellian materials to make his own figure in the world, and in so doing he has given the ''[[w:The Biography of Manuel|Biography of the Life of Manuel]]'' a Life of its own, flowing into literary history. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery — but in literature, transformation is the only form of progeny.
** Bill Patterson, in [http://www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/exhibit/cabell/prize3.html "The Heir of James Branch Cabell: The Biography of the Life of the Biography of the Life of Manuel (A Comedy of Inheritances)"]

== External links ==
{{wikipedia}}
* [http://www.heinleinsociety.org/ The Heinlein Society]
* [http://www.robertaheinlein.com/ Robert A. Heinlein, Grandmaster of Science Fiction]
* [http://www.wegrokit.com/ Robert A. Heinlein: Dean of Science-fiction writers — bibliography, essays, news, links, etc.]
* [http://www.storypilot.com/sf/heinlein.html Illustrated List of Heinlein Fiction]
* [http://www.ibdof.com/IBDOF-author-booklist.php?author=1 Internet Book Database of Fiction bibliography]
* [http://www.heinleinprize.com/ Robert & Virginia Heinlein Prize]
* [http://www.quotableheinlein.com/ The Quotable Heinlein]
* [http://www.sfwa.org/awards/grand.htm Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Awards]
* [http://www.greatbooksguide.com/Heinlein.html Robert Heinlein at 100]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heinlein, Robert A.}}

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Robert A. Heinlein

2010-03-07T13:44:04Z

Dread83: correction

[[File:RAHeinlein.autographing.Midamericon.ddb-371-14-750px.jpg|thumb|right|A generation which ignores history has no past — and no future.]]
[[File:Heinlein Tahiti 2.jpg|thumb|right|Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.]]
'''[[w:Robert A. Heinlein|Robert Anson Heinlein]]''' ([[7 July]] [[1907]] – [[8 May]] [[1988]]) was one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of [[w:science fiction|science fiction]] of the 20th Century.

See also pages for the novels:
:'''''[[Starship Troopers]]''''' (1959)
:'''''[[Stranger in a Strange Land]]''''' (1961)
:'''''[[Glory Road]]''''' (1963)
:'''''[[The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress]]''''' (1966)
:'''''[[Job: A Comedy of Justice]]''''' (1984)

== Sourced ==
[[File:Abell 520.PNG|144px|thumb|right|One can judge from experiment, or one can blindly accept authority. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all important and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits ...]]

* '''How can I possibly put a new idea into your heads, if I do not first remove your delusions?'''
** "Doctor Pinero" in ''[[w:Life-Line|Life-Line]]'' (1939)

* '''One can judge from experiment, or one can blindly accept authority. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all important and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits.''' To the academic mind, authority is everything and facts are junked when they do not fit theory laid down by authority.
** "Doctor Pinero" in ''Life-Line'' (1939)

* There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute or common law. '''Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back.'''
** ''Life-Line'' (1939)

* '''You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity.'''
** ''[[w:Logic of Empire|Logic of Empire]]'' (1941); this is one of the earliest known variants of an idea which has become known as ''[[w:Hanlon%27s_razor|Hanlon's razor]]''.

* An armed society is a polite society.
** ''[[w:Beyond This Horizon|Beyond This Horizon]]'' (1942)

* The whole principle is wrong. It's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't have steak.
** On censorship, in ''[[w:The Man Who Sold the Moon|The Man Who Sold the Moon]]'' (1949), p.188

* Every law that was ever written opened up a new way to graft.
** ''[[w:Red Planet (novel)|Red Planet]]'' (1949)

* '''Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's supposed to do.'''
**''[[w:Waldo & Magic, Inc.|Waldo & Magic, Inc.]]'' (1950)

* '''Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal.'''
** ''[[w:Assignment in Eternity|Assignment in Eternity]]'' (1953)

* Take sex away from people. Make it forbidden, evil. Limit it to ritualistic breeding. Force it to back up into suppressed sadism. Then hand the people a scapegoat to hate. Let them kill a scapegoat occasionally for cathartic release. The mechanism is ages old. Tyrants used it centuries before the word "psychology" was ever invented. It works, too.
** ''[[w:Revolt in 2100|Revolt in 2100]]'' (1953)

* '''The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed.'''
** ''[[w:Revolt in 2100|Revolt in 2100]]'' (1953), postscript

* The death rate is the same for us as for anybody ... one person, one death, sooner or later.
** ''[[w:Tunnel in the Sky|Tunnel in the Sky]]'' (1955), Captain Helen Walker, Ch. 2

* We lived like that "Happy Family" you sometimes see in traveling zoos: a lion caged with a lamb. It is a startling exhibit but the lamb has to be replaced frequently.
** ''[[w:Have Space Suit-Will Travel|Have Space Suit — Will Travel]]'' (1958)

* I also think there are prices too high to pay to save the United States. Conscription is one of them. Conscription is slavery, and I don't think that any people or nation has a right to save itself at the price of slavery for anyone, no matter what name it is called. We have had the draft for twenty years now; I think this is shameful. '''If a country can't save itself through the volunteer service of its own free people, then I say : Let the damned thing go down the drain!'''
** Guest of Honor Speech at the 29th World Science Fiction Convention, Seattle, Washington (1961)
** [http://www.quotableheinlein.com/html/home.html The Quotable Heinlein]

* I started clipping and filing by categories on trends as early as 1930 and my "youngest" file was started in 1945. Span of time is important; the 3-legged stool of understanding is held up by history, languages, and mathematics. Equipped with these three you can learn anything you want to learn. But if you lack any one of them you are just another ignorant peasant with dung on your boots.
** "The Happy Days Ahead" in ''[[w:Expanded Universe (Heinlein)|Expanded Universe]]'' (1980)

* Widows are far better than brides. They don't tell, they won't yell, they don't swell, they rarely smell, and they're grateful as hell.
** ''[[w:To Sail Beyond the Sunset|To Sail Beyond the Sunset]]'' (1987)

**How you behave toward cats here below determines your status in Heaven.
** ''[[w:To Sail Beyond the Sunset|To Sail Beyond the Sunset]]'' (1987)

* I would say that my position is not too far from that of [[Ayn Rand]]'s; that I would like to see government reduced to no more than internal police and courts, external armed forces — with the other matters handled otherwise. I'm sick of the way the government sticks its nose into everything, now.
** ''The Robert Heinlein Interview, and other Heinleiniana'' (1990) by [[w:J. Neil Schulman|J. Neil Schulman]]

* My wife Ticky is an anarchist-individualist ... When she was in the Navy during the early 'forties she showed up one morning in proper uniform but with her red hair held down by a simple navy-blue band — a hair ribbon. It was neat (Ticky is always neat) and it suited the rest of her outfit esthetically, but it was undeniably a hair ribbon and her division officer had fits. "If you can show me," Ticky answered with simple dignity, "where it says one word in the Navy Uniform Regulations on the subject of hair ribbons, I'll take it off. Otherwise not." See what I mean? She doesn't have the right attitude.
** ''[[w:Tramp Royale|Tramp Royale]]'' (1992)

=== ''[[w:The Puppet Masters|The Puppet Masters]]'' (1951) ===

* Listen, son. Most women are damn fools and children. But they've got more range than we've got. The brave ones are braver, the good ones are better — and the vile ones are viler, for that matter.
** The "Old Man" to "Sam", when discussing "Mary", chapter 11

* Don't ask me why it was top secret, or even restricted; our government has gotten the habit of classifying anything as secret which the all-wise statesmen and bureaucrats decide we are not big enough girls and boys to know, a Mother-Knows-Best-Dear policy. I've read that there used to be a time when a taxpayer could demand the facts on anything and get them. I don't know; it sounds Utopian.
** chapter 24

=== ''[[w:The Rolling Stones (novel)|The Rolling Stones]]'' (1952) ===
[[File:SonicBoom.jpg|144px|thumb|right|One could write a history of science in reverse by assembling the solemn pronouncements of highest authority about what could not be done and could never happen.]]

* '''Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done. One could write a history of science in reverse by assembling the solemn pronouncements of highest authority about what could not be done and could never happen.'''

* '''Free will is a golden thread running through the frozen matrix of fixed events.'''

=== ''[[w:Double Star|Double Star]]'' (1956) ===

* '''Aside from a cold appreciation of my own genius I felt that I was a modest man.'''

* '''I have never been impressed by the formal schools of ethics.''' I had sampled them — public libraries are a ready source of recreation for an actor short of cash — but I had found them as poor in vitamins as a mother-in-law’s kiss. Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything. I had the same contempt for the moral instruction handed to most children. Much of it is prattle and the parts they really seem to mean are dedicated to the sacred proposition that a “good” child is one who does not disturb mother’s nap and a “good” man is one who achieves a muscular bank account without getting caught. No, thanks!

* '''Take sides! Always take sides! You will sometimes be wrong — but the man who refuses to take sides must ''always'' be wrong.'''

* His bow to me must have been calculated on a slide rule; it suggested that I was about to be Supreme Minister but was not quite there yet, that I was his senior but nevertheless a civilian — then subtract five degrees for the fact that he wore the Emperor’s aiguillette on his right shoulder.

* Son, suppose you tend to your knitting and I tend to mine.

* People don’t really want change, any change at all — and xenophobia is very deep-rooted. But we progress, as we must — if we are to go out to the stars.

* '''There is solemn satisfaction in doing the best you can for eight billion people.''' Perhaps their lives have no cosmic significance, but they have feelings. They can hurt.

=== ''[[w:Methuselah's Children|Methuselah's Children]]'' (1958) ===

* '''Age is not an accomplishment, and youth is not a sin.'''

* No philosophy that he had ever heard or read gave any reasonable purpose for man's existence, nor any rational clue to his proper conduct. Basking in the sunshine might be as good a thing to do with one's life as any other — but it was not for him and he knew it, even if he could not define how he knew it.

* A committee is the only known form of life with a hundred bellies and no brain.

* '''Life is short, but the years are long.'''
** Part of the secret "call and response" codewords by which members of the long-lived [[w:Howard Families|Howard Families]] can identify others:
:: ''Life is short. But the years are long. '''Not while the evil days come not.'''''

=== ''[[w:Starship Troopers|Starship Troopers]]'' (1959) ===
:These are just a few samples; for more quotes from this work, see ''[[Starship Troopers]]''.

* '''Morals — all correct moral laws — derive from the instinct to survive. Moral behavior is survival behavior above the individual level.'''

* Correct morality can only be derived from what man is — not from what do-gooders and well-meaning aunt Nellies would like him to be.

=== ''[[w:Stranger in a Strange Land|Stranger in a Strange Land]]'' (1961; 1991) ===
:These are just a few samples; for more quotes from this work, see ''[[Stranger in a Strange Land]]'' 
* '''Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.'''
** "[[w:Jubal Harshaw|Jubal Harshaw]]" in the first edition (1961); the later 1991 "Uncut" edition didn't have this line, because it was one Heinlein had added when he went through and trimmed the originally submitted manuscript on which the "Uncut" edition is based. Heinlein also later used a variant of this in ''[[w:The Cat Who Walks Through Walls|The Cat Who Walks Through Walls]]'' where he has Xia quote Harshaw: "Dr. Harshaw says that 'the word "love" designates a subjective condition in which the welfare and happiness of another person are essential to one's own happiness.'"

* '''Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often confuses one for the other, or assumes the greater the love, the greater the jealousy. In fact they are almost incompatible; both at once produce unbearable turmoil.'''
** "Jubal Harshaw" in the first edition (1961); this is another line not in the "Uncut" edition of 1991 based on his original manuscripts, because this was one of the lines that Heinlein added, rather than trimmed down, during the editing process of the first edition.

* Ben, the ethics of sex is a thorny problem. Each of us is forced to grope for a solution he can live with — in the face of a preposterous, unworkable, and evil code of so-called "morals." Most of us know the code is wrong; almost everybody breaks it. But we pay Danegeld by feeling guilty and giving lip service. Willy-nilly, the code rides us, dead and stinking, an albatross around the neck. You, too, Ben. You fancy yourself a free soul — and break that evil code. But faced with a problem in sexual ethics new to you, you tested it against that same Judeo-Christian code ... so automatically your stomach did flip-flops ... and you think that proves you're right and they're wrong. Faugh! I'd as lief use trial by ordeal.
** "Jubal Harshaw"

*'''There comes a time in the life of every human when he or she must decide to risk "his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor" on an outcome dubious. Those who fail the challenge are merely overgrown children, can never be anything else.'''

=== ''[[w:Glory Road|Glory Road]]'' (1963) ===
:These are just a few samples; for more quotes from this work, see ''[[Glory Road]]''

* '''Logic is a feeble reed, friend.''' "Logic" proved that airplanes can't fly and that H-bombs won't work and that stones don't fall out of the sky. '''Logic is a way of saying that anything which didn't happen yesterday won't happen tomorrow.'''

* Democracy can't work. Mathematicians, peasants, and animals, that's all there is — so democracy, a theory based on the assumption that mathematicians and peasants are equal, can never work. '''Wisdom is not additive; its maximum is that of the wisest man in a given group.'''

=== ''[[w:The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress|The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress]]'' (1966) ===
:These are just a few sample quotations; for more quotes from this work, see ''[[The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress]]''

* '''A rational anarchist believes that concepts, such as "state" and "society" and "government" have no existence save as physically exemplified in the acts of self-responsible individuals.''' He believes that it is impossible to shift blame, share blame, distribute blame ... as blame, guilt, responsibility are matters taking place inside human beings singly and ''nowhere'' else. But being rational, he knows that not all individuals hold his evaluations, so he tries to live perfectly in an imperfect world ... aware that his efforts will be less than perfect yet undismayed by self-knowledge of self-failure.

* '''I will accept the rules that you feel necessary to your freedom. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.'''

* Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please. Rules, laws — always for ''other'' fellow. A murky part of us, something we had before we came down out of trees, and failed to shuck when we stood up. Because ''not one'' of those people said: Please pass this so that I won't be able to do something I know I should stop. Nyet, tovarishchee, was ''always'' something they hated to see neighbors doing. Stop them for their own good.

* '''TANSTAAFL'''.
** Acronym for "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch." The origin of this phrase is often misattributed to Heinlein or [[Milton Friedman]], but it actually dates back to at least the 1930s. Heinlein's contribution was to make the acronym for it.

=== ''[[w:Time Enough For Love|Time Enough for Love]]'' (1973) and ''[[w:The Notebooks of Lazarus Long|The Notebooks of Lazarus Long]]'' (1978)===
:Most, if not all, of these quotations are of the recurring Heinlein character "[[w:Lazarus Long|Lazarus Long]]", and most were labeled as from the "Excerpts from the Notebooks of Lazarus Long". Many of these were later published as a separate poster book. ''[[w:The Notebooks of Lazarus Long|The Notebooks of Lazarus Long]]'' (1978).

* '''Progress doesn't come from early risers — progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.'''

* $100 placed at 7 percent interest compounded quarterly for 200 years will increase to more than $100,000,000 — by which time it will be worth nothing.

* A "critic" is a man who creates nothing and thereby feels qualified to judge the work of creative men. There is logic in this; he is unbiased — he hates all creative people equally.

* A "pacifist male" is a contradiction in terms. Most self-described "pacifists" are not pacific; they simply assume false colors. When the wind changes, they hoist the Jolly Roger.

* '''A brute kills for pleasure. A fool kills from hate.'''

* '''A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity.'''

* A fake fortuneteller can be tolerated. But an authentic soothsayer should be shot on sight. Cassandra did not get half the kicking around she deserved.

* '''A generation which ignores history has no past — and no future.'''
** Paraphrased variant: A generation without history has no past — and no future.

* '''A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.'''
[[File:Sperm-egg.jpg|144px|thumb|right|A [[w:Zygote|zygote]] is a [[w:Gamete|gamete]]'s way of producing more gametes. This may be the purpose of the universe.]]

* A motion to adjourn is always in order.

* A poet who reads his verse in public may have other nasty habits.

* A touchstone to determine the actual worth of an "intellectual" — find out how he feels about astrology.

* A woman is not property, and husbands who think otherwise are living in a dreamworld.

* A [[w:Zygote|zygote]] is a [[w:Gamete|gamete]]'s way of producing more gametes. This may be the purpose of the universe.

* '''All men are created unequal.'''

* '''All societies are based on rules to protect pregnant women and young children. All else is surplusage, excrescence, adornment, luxury, or folly, which can — and must — be dumped in emergency to preserve this prime function.''' As racial survival is the only universal morality, no other basic is possible. Attempts to formulate a "perfect society" on any foundation other than "Women and children first!" is not only witless, it is automatically genocidal. Nevertheless, starry-eyed idealists (all of them male) have tried endlessly — and no doubt will keep on trying.

[[File:Apollo 11 launch.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it.]]

* '''A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill.'''

* '''Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it.'''

* Always store beer in a dark place.

* An elephant. A mouse built to government specifications.

* Any government will work if authority and responsibility are equal and coordinate. This does not insure "good" government; it simply insures that it will work. But such governments are rare — most people want to run things but want no part of the blame. This used to be called the "backseat-driver syndrome."

* Any priest or shaman must be presumed guilty until proved innocent.

* Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe, and not make messes in the house.

* Avoid making irrevocable decisions while tired or hungry. N.B.: Circumstances can force your hand. So think ahead!

* Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors — and miss.

* '''Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor.'''

* Beware of altruism. It is based on self-deception, the root of all evil.

* By the data to date, there is only one animal in the Galaxy dangerous to man — man himself. So he must supply his own indispensable competition. He has no enemy to help him.

* Certainly the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you; if you don't bet, you can't win.

* Cheops' Law: Nothing ever gets built on schedule or within budget.

* Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.

* '''Courage is the complement of fear. A man who is fearless cannot be courageous. (He is also a fool.)'''

* Darling, a true lady takes off her dignity with her clothes and does her whorish best. At other times you can be as modest and dignified as your persona requires.

* Dear, don't bore him with trivia or burden him with your past mistakes. The happiest way to deal with a man is never to tell him anything he does not need to know.

* '''Delusions are often functional.''' A mother's opinions about her children's beauty, intelligence, goodness, et cetera ad nauseam, keep her from drowning them at birth.

* Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How's that again? I missed something. Autocracy is based on the assumption that one man is wiser than a million men. Let's play that over again, too. Who decides?

* Do not handicap your children by making their lives easy.

* Does history record any case in which the majority was right?

[[File:RAH 1929 Yearbook.png|144px|thumb|right|Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.]]

* '''Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different.''' Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect. But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please — this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more! So learn to say No — and to be rude about it when necessary. Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. '''The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you. (This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)'''

* '''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.'''

* Early rising may not be a vice ... but it is certainly no virtue. The old saw about the early bird just goes to show that the worm should have stayed in bed.

* Everybody lies about sex.

* '''Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.'''

* '''Expertise in one field does not carry over into other fields. But experts often think so. The narrower their field of knowledge the more likely they are to think so.'''

* Get a shot off ''fast''. This upsets him long enough to let you make your second shot perfect.

* God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent — it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks, please. Cash and in small bills.

* History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.

* History has the relation to truth that theology has to religion — i.e., none to speak of.

* '''Human beings hardly ever learn from the experience of others.''' They learn; when they do, which isn't often, on their own, the hard way.

* I don't trust a man who talks about ethics when he is picking my pocket. But if he is acting in his own self-interest and says so, I have usually been able to work out some way to do business with him.

* If it can't be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion. It has long been known that one horse can run faster than another — but ''which one?'' Differences are crucial.

* If men were the automatons that behaviorists claim they are, the behaviorist psychologists could not have invented the amazing nonsense called "behaviorist psychology."

* If tempted by something that feels "altruistic," examine your motives and root out that self-deception. Then, if you still want to do it, wallow in it!

* If the universe has any purpose more important than topping a woman you love and making a baby with her hearty help, I've never heard of it.

* If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for, but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong. If this is too blind for your taste, consult some well-meaning fool (there is always one around) and ask his advice. Then vote the other way. This enables you to be a good citizen (if such is your wish) without spending the enormous amount of time on it that truly intelligent exercise of franchise requires.

* If you don't like yourself, you can't like other people.

* '''If you happen to be one of the fretful minority who can do creative work, never force an idea; you'll abort it if you do. Be patient and you'll give birth to it when the time is ripe. Learn to wait.'''

* In a mature society, "civil servant" is semantically equal to "civil master."

* It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so, and will follow it by suppressing opposition, subverting all education to seize early the minds of the young, and by killing, locking up, or driving underground all heretics.

* It is better to copulate than never.

[[File:Lion waiting in Nambia.jpg|144px|thumb|right|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.]]
* '''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.'''

* '''It's amazing how much "mature wisdom" resembles being too tired.'''

* Little girls, like butterflies, need no excuse.

* Masturbation is cheap, clean, convenient, and free of any possibility of wrongdoing — and you don't have to go home in the cold. But it's ''lonely''.

* Men are more sentimental than women. It blurs their thinking.

* '''Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.'''

* Money is a powerful aphrodisiac. But flowers work almost as well.

* Money is the sincerest of all flattery. Women love to be flattered. So do men.

* Most "scientists" are bottle washers and button sorters.

[[File:Buchenwald-J-Rouard-10.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.]]
* Moving parts in rubbing contact require lubrication to avoid excessive wear. Honorifics and formal politeness provide lubrication where people rub together. Often the very young, the untraveled, the naïve, the unsophisticated deplore these formalities as "empty," "meaningless," or "dishonest," and scorn to use them. No matter how "pure" their motives, they thereby throw sand into machinery that does not work too well at best.

* '''Never appeal to a man's "better nature." He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage.'''

<div id="pig">
* Never attempt to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.
</div>

* Never crowd youngsters about their private affairs — sex especially. When they are growing up, they are nerve ends all over, and resent (quite properly) any invasion of their privacy. Oh, sure, they'll make mistakes — but that's their business, not yours. (You made your own mistakes, did you not?)

* '''Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.'''

* "No man is an island — " Much as we may feel and act as Individuals, our race is — a single organism, always growing and branching — which must be pruned regularly to be healthy. This necessity need not be argued; anyone with eyes can see that any organism which grows without limit always dies in its own poisons. The only rational question is whether pruning is best done before or after birth. Being an incurable sentimentalist I favor the former of these methods — killing makes me queasy, even when it's a case of "He's dead and I'm alive and that's the way I wanted it to be." But this may be a matter of taste. Some shamans think that it is better to be killed in a war, or to die in childbirth, or to starve in misery, than never to have lived at all. They may be right. But I don't have to like it — and I don't.

* No state has an inherent right to survive through conscript troops and, in the long run, no state ever has. Roman matrons used to say to their sons: "Come back with your shield, or on it." Later on, this custom declined. So did Rome.

* Nursing does not diminish the beauty of a woman's breasts; it enhances their charm by making them look lived in and happy.

[[File:Joan_of_arc_burning_at_stake.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense.]]
* '''Of all the strange "crimes" that human beings have legislated out of nothing, "blasphemy"is the most amazing — with "obscenity" and "indecent exposure" fighting it out for second and third place.'''

* '''One man's "magic" is another man's engineering. "Supernatural" is a null word.'''

* '''One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.'''

* Peace is an extension of war by political means. Plenty of elbow room is pleasanter — and much safer.

* People who go broke in a big way never miss any meals. It is the poor jerk who is shy a half slug who must tighten his belt.

* ''Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.

* Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. '''The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.''' The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.

* Rub her feet.

* Sex should be friendly. Otherwise stick to mechanical toys; it's more sanitary.

* '''Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense.'''

* Small change can often be found under seat cushions.

[[File:Bigdayout crowd2.jpg|144px|thumb|right|The more you love, the more you ''can'' love ...]]
* Stupidity cannot be cured with money, or through education, or by legislation. Stupidity is not a sin, the victim can't help being stupid. But stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death, there is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity.

* Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed.

* The first time I was a drill instructor I was too inexperienced for the job — the things I taught those lads must have got some of them killed. War is too serious a matter to be taught by the inexperienced.

* '''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.'''

* The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history. The second most preposterous notion is that copulation is inherently sinful.

* '''The phrase "we (I) (you) simply must —" designates some thing that need not be done.''' "That goes without saying" is a red warning. "Of course" means you had best check it yourself. '''These small-change clichés and others like them, when read correctly, are reliable channel markers.'''

[[File:CL0024+17.jpg|144px|thumb|right|The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility. And vice versa.]]
* The profession of shaman has many advantages. It offers high status with a safe livelihood free of work in the dreary, sweaty sense. In most societies it offers legal privileges and immunities not granted to other men. But it is hard to see how a man who has been given a mandate from on High to spread tidings of joy to all mankind can be seriously interested in taking up a collection to pay his salary; it causes one to suspect that the shaman is on the moral level of any other con man. But it's lovely work if you can stomach it.

* The second best thing about space travel is that the distances involved make war very difficult, usually impractical, and almost always unnecessary. This is probably a loss for most people, since war is our race's most popular diversion, one which gives purpose and color to dull and stupid lives. But '''it is a great boon to the intelligent man who fights only when he must — never for sport.'''

* The shamans are forever yacking about their snake-oil "miracles." I prefer the [[w:Real McCoy|Real McCoy]] — a pregnant woman.

[[File:Heilbronn Lerchenbergtunnel 20060630.jpg|144px|thumb|right|There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will ''know''. So why fret about it?]]
* '''The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility. And vice versa.'''

* '''The two highest achievements of the human mind are the twin concepts of "loyalty" and "duty." Whenever these twin concepts fall into disrepute — get out of there fast! You may possibly save yourself, but it is too late to save that society. It is doomed.'''

* There are hidden contradictions in the minds of people who "love Nature" while deploring the "artificialities" with which "Man has spoiled 'Nature.'" The obvious contradiction lies in their choice of words, which imply that Man and his artifacts are not part of "Nature" — but beavers and their dams are. But the contradictions go deeper than this prima-facie absurdity. In declaring his love for a beaver dam (erected by beavers for beavers' purposes) and his hatred for dams erected by men (for the purposes of men) the Naturist reveals his hatred for his own race — i.e., his own self-hatred. In the case of "Naturists" such self-hatred is understandable; they are such a sorry lot. But hatred is too strong an emotion to feel toward them; pity and contempt are the most they rate. As for me, willy-nilly I am a man, not a beaver, and H. sapiens is the only race I have or can have. Fortunately for me, I like being part of a race made up of men and women — it strikes me as a fine arrangement — and perfectly "natural" Believe it or not, there were "Naturists" who opposed the first flight to old Earth's Moon as being "unnatural" and a "despoiling of Nature."

[[File:Hoag's object.jpg|144px|thumb|right|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.]]
* '''There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will ''know''. So why fret about it?'''

* There is no such thing as "social gambling." Either you are there to cut the other bloke's heart out and eat it — or you're a sucker. If you don't like this choice — don't gamble.

* There is only one way to console a widow. But remember the risk.

* Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as "bad luck."

* '''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.'''

[[File:Aurora borealis in a lab dsc04517.jpg|144px|thumb|right|You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!]]
* '''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.

* What a wonderful world it is that has girls in it!

* '''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!'''

* '''When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away.''' It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere.

[[File:010712 STS104 Atlantis launch glow.jpg|144px|thumb|right|You live and learn. Or you don't live long.]]
* When the need arises — and it does — you must be able to shoot your own dog. Don't farm it out — that doesn't make it nicer, it makes it worse.

* Whenever women have insisted on absolute equality with men, they have invariably wound up with the dirty end of the stick. What they are and what they can do makes them superior to men, and their proper tactic is to demand special privileges, all the traffic will bear. They should never settle merely for equality. For women, "equality" is a disaster.

* Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of — but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.

* '''You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once.'''

* '''You live and learn. Or you don't live long.'''

* '''Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate — and quickly.'''

* Pessimist by policy, optimist by temperament — it is possible to be both. How? By never taking an unnecessary chance and by minimizing risks you can’t avoid. This permits you to play out the game happily, untroubled by the certainty of the outcome.

=== The Pragmatics of Patriotism (1973) ===
:Quotations from Heinlein's address at the U.S. Naval Academy (5 April 1973), published in ''Expanded Universe'' (1980)

[[File:Hamadryas Baboon.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Selfishness is the bedrock on which all moral behavior starts and it can be immoral only when it conflicts with a higher moral imperative. ... The next higher level is to work, fight, and sometimes die for your own immediate family.]]
* In this complex world, science, the scientific method, and the consequences of the scientific method are central to everything the human race is doing and to wherever we are going. '''If we blow ourselves up we will do it by misapplication of science; if we manage to keep from blowing ourselves up, it will be through intelligent application of science.'''

* Patriotism is not sentimental nonsense. Nor something dreamed up by demagogues. Patriotism is as necessary a part of man's evolutionary equipment as are his eyes, as useful to the race as eyes are to the individual.

* I now define "moral behavior" as "behavior that tends toward survival." I won't argue with philosophers or theologians who choose to use the word "moral" to mean something else, but '''I do not think anyone can define "behavior that tends toward extinction" as being "moral" without stretching the word "moral" all out of shape.'''

[[File:Persischer leopard2cele4.jpg |thumb|left|Evolution is a process that never stops. Baboons who fail to exhibit moral behavior do not survive; they wind up as meat for leopards.]]
* '''Selfishness is the bedrock on which all moral behavior starts and it can be immoral only when it conflicts with a higher moral imperative.''' An animal so poor in spirit that he won't even fight on his own behalf is already an evolutionary dead end; the best he can do for his breed is to crawl off and die, and not pass on his defective genes.

[[File:ShuttlePlumeAtSunset.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Many short-sighted fools think that going to the Moon was just a stunt. But the astronauts knew the meaning of what they were doing ...]]
* The next higher level is to work, fight, and sometimes die for your own immediate family. This is the level at which six pounds of mother cat can be so fierce that she'll drive off a police dog. It is the level at which a father takes a moonlighting job to keep his kids in college — and the level at which a mother or father dives into a flood to save a drowning child ... and it is still moral behavior even when it fails.

* '''Evolution is a process that never stops. Baboons who fail to exhibit moral behavior do not survive; they wind up as meat for leopards.'''

* The next level in moral behavior higher than that exhibited by the baboon is that in which duty and loyalty are shown toward a group of your own kind too large for an individual to know all of them. We have a name for that. It is called "patriotism."

* Behaving on a still higher moral level were the astronauts who went to the Moon, for their actions tend toward the survival of the entire race of mankind.

* '''Many short-sighted fools think that going to the Moon was just a stunt.''' But the astronauts knew the meaning of what they were doing, as is shown by [[Neil Armstrong]]'s first words in stepping down onto the soil of Luna: "'''One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.'''"

* '''Men are expendable; women and children are not.''' A tribe or a nation can lose a high percentage of its men and still pick up the pieces and go on ... as long as the women and children are saved. But if you fail to save the women and children, you've had it, you're done, you're through! You join Tyrannosaurus Rex, one more breed that bilged its final test.

[[File:Halo in cirrostratus 1.jpg|144px|thumb|right|He was still trying to save this woman he had never seen before in his life, right up to the very instant the train killed him. And that's all we'll ever know about him. This is how a man dies. This is how a man ... lives!]]
* '''I said that "Patriotism" is a way of saying "Women and children first." And that no one can force a man to feel this way. Instead he must embrace it freely.''' I want to tell about one such man. He wore no uniform and no one knows his name, or where he came from; all we know is what he did. In my home town sixty years ago when I was a child, my mother and father used to take me and my brothers and sisters out to [[w:Swope Park|Swope Park]] on Sunday afternoons. It was a wonderful place for kids, with picnic grounds and lakes and a zoo. But a railroad line cut straight through it. One Sunday afternoon a young married couple were crossing these tracks. She apparently did not watch her step, for she managed to catch her foot in the frog of a switch to a siding and could not pull it free. Her husband stopped to help her. But try as they might they could not get her foot loose. While they were working at it, a tramp showed up, walking the ties. He joined the husband in trying to pull the young woman's foot loose. No luck — Out of sight around the curve a train whistled. Perhaps there would have been time to run and flag it down, perhaps not. In any case both men went right ahead trying to pull her free ... and the train hit them. The wife was killed, the husband was mortally injured and died later, the tramp was killed — and testimony showed that neither man made the slightest effort to save himself. '''The husband's behavior was heroic ... but what we expect of a husband toward his wife: his right, and his proud privilege, to die for his woman. But what of this nameless stranger? Up to the very last second he could have jumped clear. He did not. He was still trying to save this woman he had never seen before in his life, right up to the very instant the train killed him. And that's all we'll ever know about him. This is how a man dies. This is how a man ... lives!'''

=== ''[[w:Friday (novel)|Friday]]'' (1983) ===

* Friday, don't despise assassins indiscriminately. As with any tool, merit ''or'' demerit lies in how it is used. 

* All normal human beings have ''soi-disant'' mixed-up glands. The race is divided into two parts: those who know this and those who do not.
** Ch. XXI, p. 214

[[File:Collage.jpg|144px|thumb|right|A skillful Artist in shapes and appearances does no more than necessary to create His effect.]]
* '''Geniuses and supergeniuses always make their own rules on sex as on everything else; they do not accept the monkey customs of their lessers.'''
** Ch. XXI, p. 214

*A religion is sometime a source of happiness, and I would not deprive anyone of happiness. But it is a comfort appropriate for the weak, not for the strong. The great trouble with religion — any religion — is that a religionist, having accepted certain propositions by faith, cannot thereafter judge those propositions by evidence. One may bask at the warm fire of faith or choose to live in the bleak uncertainty of reason — but one cannot have both.

=== ''[[w:Job: A Comedy of Justice|Job: A Comedy of Justice]]'' (1984) ===
:These are just a few sample quotations, for more from this work, see ''[[Job: A Comedy of Justice]]''

* '''Wisdom includes not getting angry unnecessarily. The Law ignores trifles and the wise man does, too.'''

* '''Time is never a problem on the God level. Or space.''' Whatever needed to deceive you was provided. But no more than that. That is the conservative principle in art at the God level. While I can't do it, not being at that level, I have seen a lot of it done. '''A skillful Artist in shapes and appearances does no more than necessary to create His effect.'''

=== ''[[w:The Cat Who Walks Through Walls|The Cat Who Walks Through Walls]]'' (1985) ===
[[File:Light dispersion conceptual.gif|144px|thumb|right|Once you can honestly say, "I don't know", then it becomes possible to get at the truth.]]
* When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.
** Richard Ames; chapter 2, p. 24

* I usually read the obituaries first as there is always the happy chance that one of them will make my day.
** Richard Ames; chapter 3, p. 27

* A monarch's neck should always have a noose around it. It keeps him upright.
** Richard Ames; chapter 9, p. 108

* Premenstrual Syndrome: Just before their periods women behave the way men do all the time.
** credited to Lowell Stone, M.D., born 2144; chapter 15, p. 185

* Women seem to have almost unlimited capacity for forgiveness. (Since it is usually a man who needs forgiveness, this must be a racial survival trait.)
** Richard Ames; chapter 16, p. 200

[[File:Ojos de gato.JPG|144px|thumb|right|Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat.]]
* '''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.
** Gwen Novak (Hazel Stone); chapter 18, p. 230

* How can you argue with a woman who won't?
** Richard Ames; chapter 19, p. 235

* '''Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat.'''

== Quotes about Heinlein ==

* '''Several years ago, when I was ill, Heinlein offered his help, anything he could do, and we had never met; he would phone me to cheer me up and see how I was doing. He wanted to buy me an electric typewriter, God bless him — one of the few true gentlemen in this world.''' I don't agree with any ideas he puts forth in his writing, but that is neither here nor there. One time when I owed the IRS a lot of money and couldn't raise it, Heinlein loaned the money to me. I think a great deal of him and his wife; I dedicated a book to them in appreciation. Robert Heinlein is a fine-looking man, very impressive and very military in stance; you can tell he has a military background, even to the haircut. He knows I'm a flipped-out freak and still he helped me and my wife when we were in trouble. '''That is the best in humanity, there; that is who and what I love.'''
**[[Philip K. Dick]], in the introduction to the 1980 short story collection ''[[w:The Golden Man|The Golden Man]]''.

* I found Robert A. Heinlein in back issues of ''Astounding'', and also in ''The Saturday Evening Post'', and I read everything of his I could find. I was completely hooked on his "juveniles": ''Space Cadet''. ''Red Planet''. ''Starman Jones''. ''Between Planets''. ''Farmer in the Sky''. Wonderful stories, and the only thing "juvenile" about them was that he took the trouble to explain what was happening. Robert once told me that young people want to know how things work, and you can tell them more in a "juvenile" than you can in an adult novel. In any event I devoured everything of his I could find, through high school, the army, college, and I couldn’t have cared less that many were "juveniles". They were wonderful. I met Robert Heinlein years later, and through some kind of rare magic we became instant friends. We corresponded for a decade. In those days I was an engineering psychologist, operations research specialist, and systems engineer in aerospace. Most of my work was military aerospace, but I did get to work on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. We were helping to make the dream come true! I went from there to a professorship, and then into political management and city government. Robert visited me when I was working for Mayor [[w:Samuel William Yorty|Sam Yorty]]. "You probably don’t know this," he said, "but my political career ended when Yorty beat me for the Democratic nomination to the State Assembly." When I finally decided to get out of politics, academia, and the aerospace industry and try my hand at writing, Mr. Heinlein was enormously helpful. Years later, when I was an established writer, I asked him how I could pay him back. "You can’t," he said. "'''You don’t pay back, you pay forward.'''" I never forgot that, just as I never forgot the wonderful things his ‘juvenile’ stories did for me.
** [[Jerry Pournelle]], in [http://www.jerrypournelle.com/slowchange/Starsintro.html "Starswarm" (1997)]

* '''Heinlein presents us, in terms of his sources and influences with a rope of many strands and the strength of the whole is in the multiplicity of the strands.''' To lift one strand out and examine it has two immediate effects: it magnifies the relative importance out of proportion to its place in the whole; and it weakens the whole. For all the good and interesting use Heinlein made of his encounter with [[James Branch Cabell|Cabell]], he was not a disciple or even a "Cabell minor." Rather, he used Cabellian materials to make his own figure in the world, and in so doing he has given the ''[[w:The Biography of Manuel|Biography of the Life of Manuel]]'' a Life of its own, flowing into literary history. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery — but in literature, transformation is the only form of progeny.
** Bill Patterson, in [http://www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/exhibit/cabell/prize3.html "The Heir of James Branch Cabell: The Biography of the Life of the Biography of the Life of Manuel (A Comedy of Inheritances)"]

== External links ==
{{wikipedia}}
* [http://www.heinleinsociety.org/ The Heinlein Society]
* [http://www.robertaheinlein.com/ Robert A. Heinlein, Grandmaster of Science Fiction]
* [http://www.wegrokit.com/ Robert A. Heinlein: Dean of Science-fiction writers — bibliography, essays, news, links, etc.]
* [http://www.storypilot.com/sf/heinlein.html Illustrated List of Heinlein Fiction]
* [http://www.ibdof.com/IBDOF-author-booklist.php?author=1 Internet Book Database of Fiction bibliography]
* [http://www.heinleinprize.com/ Robert & Virginia Heinlein Prize]
* [http://www.quotableheinlein.com/ The Quotable Heinlein]
* [http://www.sfwa.org/awards/grand.htm Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Awards]
* [http://www.greatbooksguide.com/Heinlein.html Robert Heinlein at 100]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heinlein, Robert A.}}

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Silvio Berlusconi

2008-10-19T17:16:38Z

Dread83:

[[Image:Silvio Berlusconi 29-01-2008.jpg|thumb|200px|Silvio Berlusconi]]
'''[[w:Silvio Berlusconi|Silvio Berlusconi]]''' (born September 29, 1936 in Milan) is the Prime Minister of [[w:Italy|Italy]] and a media mogul.

== Sourced ==
* I am absolutely sure to be the most democratic man ever became Prime Minister in Italy. (ASCA, January 25, 2002)

* I always win, I'm cursed to win. (ANSA, May 24, 2003)

* I know in Italy there is a producer, producing a film on Nazi concentration camps. I will suggest you for the role of [[w:Kapo (Arbeitslager)|kapo]]. You would be perfect for that role. (said to German MEP Martin Schulz, European Parliament, July 2, 2003)

* I'm a gentleman, a truthful person, a sir of absolute morality. (From "La Repubblica", July 13, 2003)

* About magistrates he said: "To do that kind of job you must be mentally disturbed. If they do that kind of job is because they are anthropologically different from the other human beings" (ANSA, September 5, 2003)

* [[Mussolini]] never killed anybody, he just sent dissenters abroad for vacation. (From La voce di Rimini, September 11, 2003)

* Foreign press is usually leftist and describes us differently from what we really are. (Speech to the association Azzurri nel mondo, Lugano, October 24, 2004)

* [http://www.repubblica.it/2004/b/sezioni/politica/cdlverifica2/candida/candida.html] Speaking in front of the commander of the special italian police corp, Guardia di Finanza, whose job is to fight financial frauds and tax evasion , he said "There is a natural right that says that when the state asks you for a third of what you earned through back-breaking work, this seems to you a reasonable demand and you give in. If the state asks you for more, or much more, then it is a clear abuse against you and then you try to find evasive ways to make you feel coherent to your intimate sense of morality and it doesn't make you feel ethically guilty". (November 11, 2004)

*If the left wing was to rule, the result would be misery, terror and death, like it happens in every place where communism rules. (from Corriere della Sera, January 17, 2005)

* The left has always been on the wrong side. They were against [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]], but not against [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]. (newspaper La Repubblica, February 3, 2005)

* [http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/english/article/1101980006828] Asked to explain how Italy managed to get the support of its biggest competitor over the EU Food Authority dispute, he said "I used all my playboy skills and courted the Finnish President." (at the opening of the European Food Authority in Parma, June 21, 2005; the Finnish President in question was [[w:Tarja Halonen|Tarja Halonen]])

* By definition, as a Prime Minister I cannot be a liar. (Italian Radio National Broadcast, January 18 2006)

* Speaking at his party's convention in Sardinia on January 28, 2006, "Thank you dear Father Massimiliano, I'll try not to let you down and I promise you two and a half months of complete sexual abstinence until April 9 [election]". (Daily Il Giornale, January 29, 2006)

*[http://uk.news.yahoo.com/10022006/80-132/berlusconi-says-s-napoleon-only-taller.html] Only Napoleon did more than I have done. But I am definitely taller. (Reuters, February 9, 2006)

*[[Winston Churchill|Churchill]] liberated us from the Nazis, Silvio Berlusconi is liberating us from communists. (Speech in Ancona, February 11, 2006)

*I'm the Jesus Christ of politics, I am a patient victim, I put up with everyone, I sacrifice myself for everyone. (Reuters, February 12, 2006)

*Berlusconi's advice to Italians trying to escape poverty: "Do it my way and earn more money". (an interview with Italian Telelombardia, March 6, 2006)

* At the Brussels summit, at the end of Italy's EU presidency, in December 2003: "Let's talk about football and women." (Turning to four-times-married German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder.) "Gerhard, why don't you start?"

*Go and read the black book on communism and you'll find that under Mao's China they didn't eat babies but they boiled them to fertilise the fields. (Naples Rally, March 28, 2006)

*I have Italian citizens in too good consideration to think that there are so many voting assholes around which could vote against their own interests. I apologize for the rude but effective language. (Confcommercio meeting in Rome, April 4, 2006)

*The April 9th/10th vote is like that one of 1948, when democratic forces rejected the communist offensive and firmly moved the Country to the West, towards democracy and its values. ("Affari Italiani" magazine, April 7, 2006).

*'''Elections 2008''': A few days before the elections, Berlusconi remembers one of his previous plans: submit judges at regular times to psychiatric examinations .
Under the previous government of Berlusconi, there were plans to change the juridical system radically and the above suggestion was one of the hot topics.
[http://www.italymag.co.uk/italy/politics/judges-need-heads-tested-says-berlusconi "Info"]

*'''Elections 2008''': Silvio Berlusconi says that the journalist Enzo biagi left the RAI out of free will
and that he did it for the money.
The late Enzo Biagi was a famous and everywhere respected journalist.
Enzo Biagi was one of the journalists that had to leave the RAI in 2002 after the so-called ‘Bulgarian diktat’ of Silvio Berlusconi.
He was accused by Berlusconi to make a criminal use of television.
[http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/06/europe/EU-GEN-Italy-Obit-Biagi.php "Info"]

*'''Elections 2008''': Berlusconi confirms the message of Senator Dell'Utri about the live sentenced maffia
member [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittorio_Mangano "Vittorio Mangano"].
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcello_Dell%27Utri "Dell’Utri"] is Berlusconi's right hand and co founder of Forza Italia and has been convicted for numerous crimes and links to the maffia.
He defines Mangano a ‘real’ hero.
Vittorio worked several years for Berlusconi as ‘horsekeeper’ at his villa(although it seems that there were no horses…)
This man has been defined by the judge Paulo Borsellino as the maffia link to North Italy .
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paolo_Borsellino "Borsellino"] died two months after this statement in one of Italies most brutal bomb attacks.
Dell’Utri says literally that ‘Mangano was a hero because he never confessed under pressure compromising things about Berlusconi or Dell’Utri ’.

*'''Elections 2008''': Silvio Berlusconi says that, in case of a possible victory, the as neutral regarded president Napolitano will have to make place for somebody of his coalition.

*'''Elections 2008''': Silvio Berlusconi gets a lot of critics because the business man and newspaper owner [http://www.javno.com/en/world/clanak.php?id=131182 "Ciarrapico"] , who is part of Berlusconi’s party, is a convinced fascist and brings until now very proudly the fascist greetings.
Guiseppe Ciarrapico is not only an editor of very dubious press releases but has been convicted for numerous crimes.
Silvio Berlusconi says that the fascist simpaties of Ciarrapico are details and that this man is usefull to his party because he owns journals and magazines.

*'''Elections 2008''':Silvio Berlusconi assures a few weeks before the elections that there is no place in his coalition for persons with a criminal past or with mafia connections(an exception is made for political crimes)
Guiseppe Ciarrapico, as well as Marcello Dell’Utri, and many others with a criminal past and accused of mafia connections are now senators in the Italian parliament…

More Quotes from Silvio Berlusconi one week before the 2008 elections

{{wikipedia}}

[[Category:Business leaders|Berlusconi, Silvio]]
[[Category:Political leaders|Berlusconi, Silvio]]

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Indro Montanelli

2006-02-20T00:27:11Z

Dread83: +it

'''[[w:Indro Montanelli|Indro Montanelli]]''' (1909 - 2001) was an Italian journalist and historian.
{{people-stub}}
*La servitù, in molti casi, non è una violenza dei padroni, ma una tentazione dei servi.
**Translation - "In many cases, servitude is not an instance of duress on the part of the master, but a temptation for the servile."

{{lynx}}
[[Category:Historians|Montanelli, Indro]]
[[Category:Journalists|Montanelli, Indro]]

[[it:Indro Montanelli]]