Theology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn’t there. Theologians can persuade themselves of anything.
Take sides! Always take sides! You will sometimes be wrong – but the man who refuses to take sides must always be wrong.
It is impossible for anyone to be responsible for another person’s behavior. The most you or any leader can do is to encourage each one to be responsible for himself.
His older self had taught his younger self a language which the older self knew because the younger self, after being taught, grew up to be the older self and was, therefore, capable of teaching.
When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how holy the motives.
The universe never did make sense; I suspect it was built on government contract.
Never insult anyone by accident.
Never tease an old dog; he might have one bite left.
A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot...
To permit irresponsible authority is to sell disaster.
Take big bites. Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
If a grasshopper tries to fight a lawnmower, one may admire his courage but not his judgement.
One man’s ‘magic’ is another man’s engineering. ‘Supernatural’ is a null word.
Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done, and why. Then do it.
In a mature society, ‘civil servant’ is semantically equal to ‘civil master.’
Never cast pearls before swine.
A touchstone to determine the actual worth of an “intellectual” – find out how he feels about astrology.
An armed man need not fight.
When the citizens of a nation will no longer volunteer to defend it, then it is probably not worth saving. No nation has the right to survive with conscript troops, and in the long run, no nation ever has.
I took up writing because I needed money. And I continued to write because it’s safer than stealing and easier than working.