EY's Rants and Raves

Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense. -Robert A. Heinlein, science-fiction author (1907-1988)


When you boil down the major things that *everyone* agrees are "sin" they do neatly fit into that thought. Obviously, the "don't eat shellfish or pork", "don't shave your beard", "don't go out when it's humid" types of "sins" don't work so well. I don't think Heinlein is some sort of prophet, but he did have some really good ideas.

Like.... (All from Time Enough for Love)

• A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

• A touchstone to determine the actual worth of an "intellectual" — find out how he feels about astrology.

• A woman is not property, and husbands who think otherwise are living in a dreamworld.
• Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor.
• Dear, don't bore him with trivia or burden him with your past mistakes. The happiest way to deal with a man is never to tell him anything he does not need to know.
• Early rising may not be a vice … but it is certainly no virtue. The old saw about the early bird just goes to show that the worm should have stayed in bed.
• If it can't be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion. It has long been known that one horse can run faster than another — but which one? Differences are crucial.
• Masturbation is cheap, clean, convenient, and free of any possibility of wrongdoing — and you don't have to go home in the cold. But it's lonely.
• Moving parts in rubbing contact require lubrication to avoid excessive wear. Honorifics and formal politeness provide lubrication where people rub together. Often the very young, the untraveled, the naïve, the unsophisticated deplore these formalities as "empty," "meaningless," or "dishonest," and scorn to use them. No matter how "pure" their motives, they thereby throw sand into machinery that does not work too well at best.
• Never appeal to a man's "better nature." He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage.
• Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.
• Stupidity cannot be cured with money, or through education, or by legislation. Stupidity is not a sin, the victim can't help being stupid. But stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death, there is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity.
• The more you love, the more you can love — and the more intensely you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love. If a person had time enough, he could love all of that majority who are decent and just.
• To be matter of fact about the world is to blunder into fantasy — and dull fantasy at that, as the real world is strange and wonderful.