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Take sex away from people. Make it forbidden, evil. Limit it to ritualistic breeding. Force it to back up into suppressed sadism. Then hand the people a scapegoat to hate. Let them kill a scapegoat occasionally for cathartic release. The mechanism is ages old. Tyrants used it centuries before the word "psychology" was ever invented. It works, too.

— Robert A. Heinlein Revolt in 2100 (1953)

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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.