The most important lesson in the writing trade is that any manuscript is improved if you cut away the fat.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
A committee is the only known form of life with a hundred bellies and no brain.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote humorously critiques committees as ineffective and lacking intelligence despite having many members.
Robert A. Heinlein's quote satirically depicts committees as organizations that, despite their large numbers and collective resources ('a hundred bellies'), fail to demonstrate coherent thought or effective decision-making ('no brain'). This illustrates the common frustration with bureaucratic systems where collaboration does not equate to efficiency or wisdom.
Themes
CommitteeBureaucracyHumorInefficiencyLeadership
In practice
Example use cases
A lighthearted comment during a team meeting about decision-making processes.
More from Robert A. Heinlein
All quotes βAn armed society is a polite society.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
Democracy is a poor system of government at best; the only thing that can honestly be said in its favor is that it is eight times as good as any other method the human race has ever tried.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
Long human words (the longer the better) were easy, unmistakable, and rarely changed their meanings . . . but short words were slippery, unpredictable, changing their meanings without any pattern.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
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.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
Similar quotes
He was so learned that he could name a horse in nine languages; so ignorant that he bought a cow to ride on.
Benjamin FranklinRead
Anybody, providing he knows how to be amusing, has the right to talk about himself.
Charles BaudelaireRead
Someone asked me, if I were stranded on a desert island what book would I bring... 'How to Build a Boat.'
Steven WrightRead
There sure are a lot of these 'instant' products on the market. Instant coffee, instant tea, instant pudding, instant cereal... instant dislike.
Charles M. SchulzRead
Those of you who are not aware of my brilliant career as a stand up comic, I'm not aware of it either so we might well wonder what we're doing here.
Alan RickmanRead
Sex: the pleasure is momentary, the position ridiculous, and the expense damnable.
Lord ChesterfieldRead