I found the quote I thought I was looking for in my last post!
It’s close, but not quite, what Stephen King wrote in Shawshank Redemption.
One of my favorite books of all time is Robert Heinlein’s Time Enough for Love.
It’s a science fiction novel about a man named Lazarus Long, spanning centuries. (Yes, he’s long-lived, that’s part the book’s aesthetic.)
The quote is in the Chapter The Tale of the Adopted Daughter, which, frankly, makes me sob reading it, every time. I know it’s coming, I’ve read this book a dozen times, easily, but I can’t help myself.
The quote reads:
Here is life or here is dying; only sin is lack of trying. Grab your picks and grab your shovels; dig latrines and build your hovels – next year better, next year stronger, next year’s furrows that much longer. Learn to grow it, learn to eat it. You can’t buy it, learn to make it! How’d you know until you’ve tried it? Try again and keep on trying —
So many quotables in this book. Some I dislike, for – reasons – but others keep bringing me back, just to read again.
Certainly the game is rigged. Don’t let that stop you; if you don’t bet, you can’t win.
Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done, and why. Then do it.
Small change can often be found under seat cushions.
It’s amazing how much “mature wisdom” resembles being too tired.
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.
The more you love, the more you can love – and the more intensely you love. Nor is there a limit on how many you can love. If a person has time enough, he could love all of the majority who are decent and just.
And…
One I’ve used a million times, often when wistful, or regretful about the past… I remind myself:
When the ship lifts, all bills are paid. No regrets.
The book has hundreds more stunning quotes, some even separated out into their own “Notebook” chapters.
I.. Just wish the things in this book were possible.
I see so many correlating instances with the beginnings of this story, and our present timeline.
May the Great Diaspora happen soon.
Humanity needs the humbling experience of space.
Brea's Air 