The most important lesson in the writing trade is that any manuscript is improved if you cut away the fat.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
Sex should be friendly. Otherwise stick to mechanical toys; it's more sanitary.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that sexual intimacy should be rooted in friendship rather than mere physicality.
Heinlein emphasizes the importance of emotional connection in sexual relationships, arguing that purely physical encounters lack the depth and satisfaction that come from a friendship-based approach. By suggesting alternative 'mechanical toys' for those who prefer to keep intimacy superficial, he critiques the detachment often found in casual sexual encounters and champions the idea that meaningful relationships enhance physical intimacy.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about the benefits of emotional intimacy in sexual relationships.
The most important lesson in the writing trade is that any manuscript is improved if you cut away the fat.
An armed society is a polite society.
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.
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.
Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.
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.
Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their opressors.
Strange how people who suffer together have stronger connections than those who are most content.
A lot of ink is given over to mythologizing female friendships as curious, fragile relationships that are always intensely fraught. Stop reading writing that encourages this mythology.
I have come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying, and for this reason, I can never be satisfied with anyone who would be blockhead enough to have me.
We all have incredible relationships to what we eat, to what we don't eat, to what we've eaten since childhood and what we were fed, to what food means to us. And so I find it a really powerful tool in storytelling and in opening people's hearts and their minds.
Spiritual Partnership ... The new female and the new male are partners on a journey of spiritual growth. They want to make the journey. Their love and trust keep them together. Their intuition guides them. They consult with each other. They are friends. They laugh a lot. They are equals. That is what a spiritual partnership is: a partnership between equals for the purpose of spiritual growth.
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