Quote
By Robert Heinlein
The police of a State should never be stronger or better armed than the citizenry. An armed citizenry, willing to fight, is the foundation of civil freedom.
- Source
- Beyond This Horizon, Part Two (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1942), May 1942 · Beyond This Horizon, Part Two, p. 64 (printed page number)
- Read at
- Street & Smith
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About this quote
Spoken by the character Claude Mordan in Robert A. Heinlein's novel Beyond This Horizon, first printed in Astounding Science Fiction under the pen name Anson MacDonald (Part Two, May 1942). Mordan is answering Hamilton Felix, who thinks the police force should be larger. Mordan adds that this is a personal evaluation. It is a character's view in a novel, and readers disagree about it.