The Universe was a damned silly place at best . . . but the least likely explanation for its existence was the no-explanation of random chance, the conceit that some abstract somethings “just happened” to be some atoms that “just happened” to get together in configurations which “just happened” to look like consistent laws and then some of these configurations “just happened” to possess self-awareness and that two such “just happened” to be the Man from Mars and the other a bald-headed old coot with Jubal himself inside. No, Jubal would not buy the “just happened” theory, popular as it was with men who called themselves scientists. Random chance was not a sufficient explanation of the Universe—in fact, random chance was not sufficient to explain random chance; the pot could not hold itself.
Robert A. Heinlein
Related The Universe was a damned silly place at best . . . but the least likely explanation for its existen... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN The Universe was a silly place at best...but the least likely explanation for it was the no-explanat... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Random chance was not a sufficient explanation of the Universe---in fact, random chance was not suff... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN What happened to these young men, it had nothing to do with religion. It was a random thing. They ju... JAMES RUSSELL This was completely unprovoked. It really could have been anybody. It was a random act of violence. ... KATE WAGNER I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES What happened in the past is just that, the past. Champion or not. STEVE NASH That type of monthly decline was unprecedented, ... We were not comfortable with management's explan... BILL NYGREN That type of monthly decline was unprecedented. We were not comfortable with management's explanatio... BILL NYGREN Instead of breaking that bridge, we should, if possible, provide
another, that he may retire the so... ARISTIDES ("THE JUST") We make war that we may live in peace. ARISTIDES ("THE JUST") Chance. Stupid, dumb, blind chance. Just a part of the strange mechanism of the world, with its fits... LAUREN OLIVER a full explanation of what happened, why it happened, how it happened and who were the president's a... STEVE FORBES You're full of contradictions, Ms. Wallace." I looked up at him and arched a brow. "I'm a girl... TAMMARA WEBBER No, no, it's not all random, if it was really random, the universe would abandon us completely, and ... R.J. PALACIO This was her granddaughter and the relatives involved. The way it happened, some of what I've observ... TODD ANDERSON How should I know?" said Alice, surprised at her own courage. "It's no business of mine." The Q... LEWIS CARROLL Kindness is universal. Sometimes being kind allows others to see the goodness in humanity through yo... GERMANY KENT If Stephen King was a killer, he will be the best killer ever existed, check out his novels, check o... DEYTH BANGER It was not like I planned even to be a choreographer. It just happened to me somehow. PINA BAUSCH Yeah, and this just happened to be the 666th. This was the number that was given. CLAY CONDIT Detroit was kind of a random thing where it was like a chance to be in a rock 'n' roll movie. EDWARD FURLONG The Imperial Senate, ever conscious of the weight of public opinion resting on the tip of the pencil... CHRISTINA ENGELA I parody myself every chance I get. I try to make fun of myself and let people know that I'm a human... GARY COLEMAN Anyways, that very same night there was a fight in the casino on B Deck. Some of the passengers got ... CHRISTINA ENGELA Detroit was kind of a random thing where it was like a chance to be in a rock 'n' roll movie... EDWARD FURLONG I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. He pump-faked and then went up like nobo... JOSH POWELL It was just a tense situation, just a spur of the moment thing that shouldn't have happened. JOEY FERNANDEZ There was a message of restraint, of great discipline, of great pre-planning, to eliminate as much a... JAY KRIEGEL Basically, I was in shock. I just couldn't believe it. Somebody called me earlier that morning to te... JEFF SUPPAN Probably some of the best things that have ever happened to you in life, happened because you said y... DANNY WALLACE It just so happened that the position that was available was the secondary, ... and I told him I wou... AL GOLDEN Just to be around that, to feel a part of it and be able to integrate the experience while I was wit... BENNY GREEN It was a [tough] call, but it doesn't really provide an explanation for what happened after that. CRAIG COUNSELL In some places if you get to the Final Eight and lose to the No. 1 seed and win 32 games, there's 6,... GENO AURIEMMA They're narrative films, but there's also something very experimental in the way that the narrative ... DAVE DOUGLAS I've met a few people in my time who were enthusiastic about hard work. And it was just my luck that... BILL GOLD It just happened that the public happened to, uh, appreciate the satirical quality of these crazy th... RUBE GOLDBERG It was very unexpected. This is the kind of thing that the Extension does. In this situation, we jus... JENNIFER BEST It would not be better if things happened to men just as they wish. VANCE HAVNER It would not be better if things happened to men just as they wish. HERACLITUS It would not be better if things happened to men just as they wish. HERACLITUS OF EPHESUS Friendship is a double-edged sword one side it can be great and true but the other side it spells be... GARY F EVANS... You look at what happened in these 2004 storms, and evacuation was not as good as anyone would like ... JAY BAKER I hadn't planned to be a model. It just happened by pure chance. I went to a beauty school with ... IRINA SHAYK I make no excuse for what happened. Drunkenness is never more than a symptom, not an absolute cause,... PAUL AUSTER The 2002 reforms were just a recognition of changes that had happened already. It's not reform in an... ANDREI LANKOV We're not really sure what happened. There was a fluke where people were signing up for one and not ... MARSHA WATSON The truth is, you look at what happened in these 2004 storms, and evacuation was not as good as anyo... JAY BAKER The scientific method gives us
information by testing and repeating observable things so that we
can... LEWIS N. ROE Never be defined by what has happened to you in the past, it was just a life lesson, not a life sent... DONALD PILLAI That really happened when Robin came on board, ... He wanted Michael [Stern] to be a real man, not j... KATHY BATES But acting just sort of happened and I found that I loved it. It was such a challenge. RACHAEL LEIGH COOK If we are merely a chance product of ‘random happenstance’ and nothing more, doesn’t it strike... CRAIG D. LOUNSBROUGH Be kind. We never know what people are going through. Give grace and mercy because one day your circ... GERMANY KENT I'm just a lucky slob from Ohio who happened to be in the right place at the right time. CLARK GABLE When I started to pick up the bass, it was purely by random chance. EBERHARD WEBER It was just a normal day. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. MICHELLE MORGAN It just happened to be my night. The guys called us from downstairs from a cell phone and told us th... JUAN DELFIN It was the start of a downward slide. Being that far away when something like that happened, it was ... DAVE SOUTAR The rules only applied to people who couldn’t afford different rules. CAMERON STRACHER That was a really special day. It was a chance for me to go back to my college and get a big honor, ... RYAN FLEMING The unfortunate thing is that, sometimes, we slip, but, fortunately, consciously or unconsciously, w... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH I mean, I think I just it added to my excitement to playing today, and just going out there and doin... KARRIE WEBB This doesn't solve the mystery by itself, but it brings us closer to a reasonable explanation of wha... ANDREW JARVIS Some people never take a chance and never know what it's like to live life to the full. CHLOE THURLOW It just so happened that I was going to be her advisor for the Presidential Scholars program that su... KATHERINE KLEM It was strange not having him there. What's happened was a bolt out of the blue but I think he's goi... JOE COLE Some of the things really happened. Some of them are just a movie. DAVID LATTIN And then after that, running around the bases, it was just one of those things. You couldn't bel... CARLTON FISK With everything that has happened, that was more than just a trial for us. IVAN CLEARY I was just trying to put one foot in front of the other when the week started. I just happened to pl... BEN CRENSHAW It has not happened a lot, but it has happened before. Just not while boarding. LAUREN PEDUZZI It really was a miracle that things just worked and fell into place, ... I feel like there was a rea... ARON RALSTON It really was a miracle that things just worked and fell into place. I feel like there was a reason ... DONNA RALSTON We got confused a couple of times on ball screens and he was able to get some open looks. I guess it... BRENDAN WINTERS We weren't worried, I was just thinking we've got to get to state, and it just happened to be me. It... BRADY BOMBER It was just things I've donated to before the hurricane happened, ANGELA TAYLOR Richard Nixon was the best thing that ever happened to journalism. I mean this guy was wonderful. Ju... P. J. O'ROURKE If the Universe possesses intrinsically random elements in their make up, inherited from its quantum... JOHN D. BARROW They didn't know each other. The victims just happened to stop for gas . . . whether it was a mean l... ANGELA BOZORTH All kinds of relations with Cambodia must be halted until we get a satisfactory explanation for the ... THAKSIN SHINAWATRA It was not pre-arranged. It just happened that the driver made and demand and I just didn't feel lik... ROSA PARKS It just happened that the hole got in the way. I was trying to make4 and I made 3. FUZZY ZOELLER It was phenomenal. We were on an isolated part of the island. Nothing to do. Just basketball. It was... ERIC MUSSELMAN After the '60s happened -- as great as it was to throw the whole culture on its ear and shake things... RAQUEL WELCH I was stuck without a rider. Jose was not getting any mounts. I just happened to see him. KIRK ZIADIE Some of the best things that have ever happened to us wouldn’t have happened to us, if it weren’... MOKOKOMA MOKHONOANA I was scared (when that happened). But it went in and that just gave me the confidence to make the s... DOMINIK WILKINS I just threw my arm up and deflected the ball. It wasn't really a play that I was trying to make. It... IAN GOLD The breakup was not just something that happened as the ship made her final plunge, but the breakup ... ROGER LONG We were planning on going to New Orleans for vacation about the time it happened. After it happened,... JEFF NEAL Some people would not have remained with their partners, if the unfortunate things that have happene... MOKOKOMA MOKHONOANA Was there any basis for preferring any one sufficient hypothesis over another? When you simply did n... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN I never thought of myself as a songwriter. I was just an artist writing songs, and they just happene... BEBE REXHA I had as much time to prepare for that moon landing as NASA did, and I still was speechless when it ... WALTER CRONKITE You know, Nirvana used to start rehearsals with the three of us just jamming. For, like, a half an h... DAVE GROHL Just soaking up the history of the Boston Celtics has been the best thing that's happened to me ... PAUL PIERCE There was no warning. I mean, it just happened. I just assumed the traffic lights had broken. BARBARA ORMEROD I believe there is no such thing as the end of days for this universe. However, for some races, it c... TOBA BETA
More Robert A. Heinlein
Don't ever become a pessimist... a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimis... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN One man's 'magic' is another man's engineering. 'Supernatural' is a null wor... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN The universe never did make sense; I suspect it was built on government contract. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Yield to temptation. It may not pass your way again. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science requires reasoning while those... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's supposed to do. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN They didn't want it good, they wanted it Wednesday. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away. It is time to... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. I am free, no matt... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortu... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN To be matter-of-fact about the world is to blunder into fantasy - and dull fantasy at that, as the r... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political po... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN A long and wicked life followed by five minutes of perfect grace gets you into Heaven. An equally lo... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with hi... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Anyone who clings to the historically untrue -- and -- thoroughly immoral doctrine that violence nev... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN There ain't no such thing as a free lunch."
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ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Its very variety, subtlety, and utterly irrational, idiomatic complexity makes it possible to say th... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Most neuroses and some psychoses can be traced to the unnecessary and unhealthy habit of daily wallo... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN If God existed (a question concerning which Jubal maintained a meticulous intellectual neutrality) a... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Democracy is a poor system of government at best; the only thing that can honestly be said in its fa... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN It's up to the artist to use language that can be understood, not hide it in some private code. Most... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN My dear, I used to think I was serving humanity . . . and I pleasured in the thought. Then I discove... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN There is no safety this side of the grave ROBERT A. HEINLEIN I do know that the slickest way to lie is to tell the right amount of truth--then shut up. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN I never do anything I don't want to do. Nor does anyone, but in my case I am always aware of it. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Anybody can look at a pretty girl and see a pretty girl. An artist can look at a pretty girl and see... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN If you've got the truth you can demonstrate it. Talking doesn't prove it. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Thinking doesn't pay. Just makes you discontented with what you see around you. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN But goodness alone is never enough. A hard, cold wisdom is required for goodness to accomplish good.... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Consider the black widow spider. It's a timid little beastie, useful and, for my taste, the pretties... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Secrecy begets tyranny. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN A desire not to butt into other people's business is at least eighty percent of all human wisdom. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN I've found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts so much . . . because it's the only thi... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. 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HEINLEIN Sex without love is merely healthy exercise. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Sex, whatever else it is, is an athletic skill. The more you practice, the more you can, the more yo... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN I never learned from a man who agreed with me. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, This you may ... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN There is no way that writers can be tamed and rendered civilized or even cured. The only solution kn... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN May you live as long as you wish and love as long as you live. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN By cultivating the beautiful we scatter the seeds of heavenly flowers, as by doing good we cultivate... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN I was there to see beautiful naked women. So was everybody else. It's a common failing. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN The trouble with conspiracies is that they rot internally. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Theology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Butterflies are not insects,' Captain John Sterling said soberly. 'They are self-propelled flowers. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Butterflies are self propelled flowers. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN The Universe was a damned silly place at best . . . but the least likely explanation for its existen... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own... Jealousy... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with hi... 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HEINLEIN Most people can't think, most of the remainder won't think, the small fraction who do think mostly c... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN If a grasshopper tries to fight a lawnmower, one may admire his courage but not his judgement. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Happiness lies in being privileged to work hard for long hours in doing whatever you think is worth ... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN It's an indulgence to sit in a room and discuss your beliefs as if they were a juicy piece of gossip... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN One man's theology is another man's belly laugh. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's supposed to do. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Women will forgive anything. Otherwise, the race would have died out long ago ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afte... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN How you behave toward cats here below determines your status in Heaven. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN The more you love, the more you can love--and the more intensely you love. Nor is there any limit on... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN People usually believe anything that they are told early and often. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN A long and wicked life followed by five minutes of perfect grace gets you into Heaven. An equally lo... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Beds do not matter, it is who is in a bed that counts. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN They didn't want it good, they wanted it Wednesday. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Don't ever become a pessimist, Ira; a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN His older self had taught his younger self a language which the older self knew because the younger ... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN I don't see how an article of clothing can be indecent. A person, yes. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN It's an indulgence to sit in a room and discuss your beliefs as if they were a juicy piece of go... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN The instinct to survive is human nature itself, and every aspect of our personalities derives from i... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Elephants aren't human but they are very nice people. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN If you disturb the patient at such times, he may break into tears or become violent. and, if you sha... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Since when was an emotional argument won by logic? ROBERT A. HEINLEIN In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a de... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN No woman ever ages beyond eighteen in her heart. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN There were many, many times thereafter that Don regretted having enlisted - but so has every man who... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN He never once repeated himself and he never used either profanity or obscenity. (I learned later tha... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN The America of my time line is a laboratory example of what can happen to democracies, what has even... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Any government will work if authority and responsibility are equal and coordinate. This does not ins... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, ... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Secrecy is the keystone to all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy and censorship. When any government o... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Yield to temptation...it may not pass your way again! ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Long human words (the longer the better) were easy, unmistakable, and rarely changed their meanings ... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man b... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Liberty is never unalienable; it must be redeemed regularly with the blood of patriots or it always ... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN That God is in truth the sort of bloodthirsty paranoid Who would rend to bits forty-two children for... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN To be matter of fact about the world is to blunder into fantasy -- and dull fantasy at that, as the ... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Being right too soon is socially unacceptable. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Of all the strange "crimes" that human beings have legislated of nothing, "blasphemy" is the most am... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense. (Hurtin... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away. It is time to go ... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN A great artist can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is... and force the viewer to se... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Under what circumstances is it moral for a group to do that which is not moral for a member of that ... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Stupidity cannot be cured. Stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death. The... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Anything which is physically possible can always be made financially possible; money is a bugaboo of... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN One man’s “magic” is another man’s engineering. “Supernatural” is a null word. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN I woke up in bed with a man and a cat. The man was a stranger; the cat was not ROBERT A. HEINLEIN A community where everyone is a ruthless murderer, with handy access to death-dealing devices, is a ... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Every general prohibition creates its bootleggers. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Heroism' often consists in keeping your head in an emergency and doing the best you can with what yo... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense. (Hurtin... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Everybody lies about sex. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN The correct way to punctuate a sentence that states: "Of course it is none of my business, but -- " ... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Work is not an end in itself; there must always be time enough for love. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Never tease an old dog; he might have one bite left. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Take big bites. Anything worth doing is worth overdoing. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Animals can be driven crazy by placing too many in too small a pen. Homo sapiens is the only animal ... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Cheops' Law: Nothing ever gets built on schedule or within budget. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Certainly the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you; if you don't bet you can't win. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN I came, I saw, she conquered." The original Latin seems to have been garbled. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you ... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Live and learn, or you don't live long. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Be wary of strong drink, it can make you shoot at the tax collector...and miss. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN A generation which ignores history has no past — and no future. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Delusions are often functional. A mother's opinions about her children's beauty, intelligence, goodn... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN There is no such thing as "Just a cat. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Customs tell a man who he is, where he belongs, what he must do. Better illogical customs than none;... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Find out what you want to do, then do it. Never talk yourself into doing something you don’t want.... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Television leaves no external scars. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Some people insist that ‘mediocre’ is better than ‘best.’ They delight in clipping wings bec... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Dress yourself in heavy fishing waders, put on an overcoat and boxing gloves and a bucket over your ... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Library science was the foundation of all sciences. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN You can't believe what a lovely planet we have until you see her from outside. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN The Mother Thing makes our world. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Everybody else specializes. Daddy knows everything, and he puts the pieces together. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN More depended on the student than on the school. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Mother had the social restraint of an ambassador. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN I needed a space suit the way a pig needs a pipe organ. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN