The most important lesson in the writing trade is that any manuscript is improved if you cut away the fat.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
If possible, _x000D_ leave room for your enemy _x000D_ to become your friend.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that maintaining a sense of openness and forgiveness can transform adversaries into allies.
Robert A. Heinlein's quote emphasizes the idea that by allowing space for reconciliation and understanding, it is possible for those who oppose us to become friends. This perspective advocates for compassion over conflict, encouraging individuals to look beyond hostility and recognize the potential for collaboration and harmony.
Themes
EnemyFriendshipReconciliationCompassionForgiveness
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about overcoming differences in the workplace.
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
Grief can be a slow ache that never seems to stop rising, yet as we grieve, those we love mysteriously become more and more a part of who we are.
Mark NepoRead
It's very important to know the neighbor next door and the people down the street and the people in another race.
Maya AngelouRead
We must love one another, yes, yes, that's all true enough, but nothing says we have to like each other. It may be the very recognition of all men as our brothers that accounts for the sibling rivalry, and even enmity, we have toward so many of them.
Peter De VriesRead
I don't have a horror story to share like the ones we have heard from so many women in the #MeToo movement... But when you really listen to women, you begin to understand the million little ways in which all women are made less and denied the opportunity to contribute to their communities and their country.
Tina SmithRead
Let's go hand in hand, not one before another.
William ShakespeareRead
He feared me as many men fear women: because their mistresses (or their wives) understand them. They are scarcely adult, some men: they wish women to understand them, and to that end they tell them all their secrets; and then, when they are properly understood, they hate their women for understanding them.
Julian BarnesRead