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“Spare the rod and spoil the child” is not sadistic; it is hard common sense. You fail your children worst if you do not punish them when they need it. The lessons you fail to teach them will be taught later and much more harshly by a cruel world, the real world where no excuses are accepted.

— Robert A. Heinlein To Sail Beyond the Sunset (1987)

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More quotes by Robert A. Heinlein

Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.

Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)

“My uncle used to say, ‘Never pick up a stray kitten…unless you’ve already made up your mind to be owned by it.’”

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985)

I have never been able to see life as anything but a vast complicated practical joke, and it’s better to laugh than cry.

I Will Fear No Evil (1970)

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

Time Enough for Love (1973)

If you would know a man, observe how he treats a cat.

The Door Into Summer (1957)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Robert A. Heinlein (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.