“If a grasshopper tries to fight a lawnmower, one may admire his courage but not his judgement.”

“An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.”

“I believe that this hairless embryo with the aching, oversize brain case and the opposable thumb, this animal barely up from the apes, will endure --will endure longer than his home planet, will spread out to the other planets, to the stars, and beyond, carrying with him his honesty, his insatiable curiosity, his unlimited courage --and his noble essential decency.This I believe with all my heart.”

“How is a sincere criminal, trying hard, going to get ahead in his profession if his victim fails to cooperate?”

“Heroism' often consists in keeping your head in an emergency and doing the best you can with what you have instead of panicking and being shot in the tail. People who fight this way win more battles than do intentional heroes; a glory hound often throws away the lives of his mates as well as his own.”

“Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate — and quickly.”

“Courage is the complement of fear. A man who is fearless cannot be courageous. [He is also a fool.]”