Quote
By Robert Heinlein
Well, in the first place an armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.
- Source
- Beyond This Horizon, Part Two (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1942), May 1942 · Internet Archive scan page 89
- Read at
- Street & Smith
Share this quote
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 explaining to his younger friend Hamilton Felix why the custom of going armed in their world is a good one. It is a character's view in a novel, and readers disagree about it.