QUOTATIONS from Robert Heinlein seem to very popular these days. Here are some of my favorites:

Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done and why. Then do it!

Most “scientists” are bottle washers and button sorters.

A generation which ignores history has no past—and no future.

In a mature society, “civil servant” is semantically equal to “civil master.”

There are hidden contradictions within the minds of people who “love nature” while deploring the “artificialities” with which “Man has spoiled ‘Nature.” The obvious contradiction lies in their choice of words, which imply that Man and his artifacts are not part of “Nature” -- but beavers and their dams are. But the contradictions go deeper than this prima-facie absurdity. In declaring his love for a beaver damn (erected by beavers for beaver’s purposes) and his hatred for dams erected by men (for the purpose of men) the “Naturist” reveals his hatred for his own race -- i.e., his own self-hatred. In the case of “Naturists” such self-hatred is understandable; they are such a sorry lot. But hatred is too strong an emotion to feel toward them; pity and contempt are the most they rate. As for me, willy-nilly I am a man, not a beaver, and H. Sapiens is the only race I have or can have. Fortunately for me, I like being part of a race made up of men and women -- it strikes me as a fine arrangement and perfectly “natural.” Believe it or not, there were “Naturists” who opposed the first flight to old Earth’s Moon as being “unnatural” and a “despoiling of nature.”

Beware of altrusim. It is based on self-deception, the root of all evil.

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity!

Political tags -- such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and. so forth -- are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.

From "The Notebooks of Lazarus Long" in Robert Heinlein's 1973 novel Time Enough for Love.

IT'S TIME for a red-tape rescue.

ANOTHER FAIL: With the New York Times, it's routine.

KRAUTHAMMER: Bad luck? Or bad faith?

RICK PERRY: "I love my country more than I care about Obama's feelings."

ABOUT TIME: Judge Tosses Iffy Class Action – Says Plaintiff Can’t Claim She’s Too Stoopid To Understand Policies.

WHITE HOUSE faces political dilemma on health law challenge. The very fact that the Obama administration may try to delay the Supreme Court decision beyond the 2012 election is a pretty clear indication that they don't believe they will win.

YEAH, RIGHT: I'm from the government and I'm here to help you ....

VERIZON UNION WORKERS bused to CEO's home for protest. Verizon's response: "Union bosses surely can find more constructive things for their membership to do than waste taxpayer dollars, public safety resources and their membership’s time with these cheap theatrics.”

THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE, expressed through Congress, appears to mean nothing to the Obama administration.

THOMAS SOWELL: Social Degeneration.

GOOD LORD: Now the Left are eating their unicorns. What's next? Drinking the rainbow KoolAid?

KEEP THE FIRES BURNING: it creates jobs for arsonists.

PAUL GREENBERG: Who's in; who's out? Greenberg seems to favor 'electability'; this year, I want a "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" candidate.

"A MAN'S GOTTA KNOW HIS LIMITATIONS." But a President doesn't.

MICHELLE MALKIN: Who are the real racists?

NO TOILET FOR TIANGONG. Will the outhouse have one of those cute little half-moons on the door?

More on the Chinese space station here.

EDUCATION SECRETARY ARNE DUNCAN: “I feel very, very badly for the children there,” referring to children in Texas.

Sorry, Mr. Duncan, but as husband of an elementary school teacher who taught in both Texas and California and father of two children, one of whom graduated from high school in Texas and the other of whom graduated from high school in California, I can confidently assert that Texas schools are far superior.

But I will grant that teacher salaries and perks are better in California.

UNEXPECTED: Number of Green Jobs Fails to Live Up to Promises. Now the Democrats are chiming in.

DAY BY DAY: hunting predators. And don't forget there's already another hunter on the election trail.

ALLEN WEST: "I'm here to lead blacks off the Democratic Party 'plantation'."

This has long needed to be said publicly. I'm glad that West was the one.

More here.