# Heinlein quote about abandoning possessions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 11, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514 "2016-11-11T17:19:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/21 "2016-11-11T21:41:50Z")
> [@NoCoolUserName](#): > > Wow. Conflating Heinlein and Tolkien. Clearly my senility has progressed further than I realized. ☹ Well, they did collaborate on _Have Spacesuit: Will Travel There and Back Again._ ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/22 "2016-11-11T21:46:42Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, they did collaborate on _Have Spacesuit: Will Travel There and Back Again._ Which wasn’t nearly as good as Tolkien’s collaboration with Niven: _Lord of the Ringworld_ ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/23 "2016-11-11T21:47:42Z")
Or his other collaboration with Heinlein: _Farmer Giles of Ham In the Sky_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/24 "2016-11-11T21:58:03Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > The snark was in your head, but I _was_ confused by your out-of-the-blue comment about how Heinlein may or may not have believed it. > > Hope this helps you understand why your response seemed so bizarre for this thread and why I thought you might have meant to reply to another thread since your comment was completely irrelevant to anything anyone had said here. 🙂 What the fuck does your “confusion” have to do with your snarky & aggressive comment? We WERE talking about Heinlein quotes, yes? My comment was correct, was it not? It wasnt a hijack. “Which wasn’t nearly as good as Tolkien’s collaboration with Niven: Lord of the Ringworld” has\*\* exactly what\*\* to do with \* OP looking for a quote from a book about a specific topic\*? _“Or his other collaboration with Heinlein: Farmer Giles of Ham In the Sky”_ what does that have to do with \*\*Heinlein quote about abandoning possessions \*\*?? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/25 "2016-11-11T21:59:23Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Which wasn’t nearly as good as Tolkien’s collaboration with Niven: _Lord of the Ringworld_ \*The OP was looking for a quote from a book about a specific topic. It was provided. Or were you responding to some other thread? \* ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/26 "2016-11-11T22:08:34Z")
You commented, “Just because Heinlein had a character say in in one of his stories doesn’t mean he personally believed it.”. No one mentioned anything about what he believed until you brought it up. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/27 "2016-11-11T22:10:25Z")
Geez, lighten up. Deth be not proud. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/28 "2016-11-11T22:12:54Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > You commented, “Just because Heinlein had a character say in in one of his stories doesn’t mean he personally believed it.”. No one mentioned anything about what he believed until you brought it up. No one asked for joke posts either. But we do that and it’s not usually a issue. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/29 "2016-11-11T22:21:29Z")
One of my favorite lines from the tolkien/Heinlein collaborations is: I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor;. You cannot pass through tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/30 "2016-11-11T22:49:21Z")
I prefer their poetry, especially “The Glory Road Goes Ever On” ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/31 "2016-11-11T22:53:08Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Or his other collaboration with Heinlein: _Farmer Giles of Ham In the Sky_ > > 😃 Or his non-fiction collaboration with Niven and Pournelle “Beowulf: the Monster and the Critics’ Children.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2016, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/32 "2016-11-12T02:27:36Z")
[Mod Note] **DrDeth** , cool it. And everyone bouncing off of **DrDeth** , cool it, too. We’ve established that Heinlein’s views did not necessarily correspond with any given character of his, and we all agree that that’s true, so there’s no point arguing over it. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2016, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/33 "2016-11-12T03:03:23Z")
Wait - you’re a Mod now? Congratulations…you poor poor bastard. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2016, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/34 "2016-11-12T04:00:15Z")
> [@Grey](#): > > Wait - you’re a Mod now? Congratulations…you poor poor bastard. 🙂 Oh, I think he knows what he’s in for. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2016, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/35 "2016-11-12T04:05:58Z")
I don’t live in Fetters, but I must be close. I think if my house caught fire, I’d kick the dogs out the back door, come back to the couch and go up with all my shit. If my garage caught fire, there would be _no question._ ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/36 "2016-11-15T20:26:59Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > “In the course of a long life, a wise man must be prepared to abandon his belongings more than once.” Do you have the reference for this one? Sounds good, but is it Heinlein? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/37 "2016-11-15T21:41:37Z")
> [@NoCoolUserName](#): > > Do you have the reference for this one? Sounds good, but is it Heinlein? It’s from Heinlein but may be itself an embedded quote. My once-eidetic recall of the RAH canon is now just I.D.etic (as in “I Dunno…”) and my backup resource had the discourtesy to drop dead a couple of years ago. Pretty sure it’s from one of the first two Lazarus stories, but I will check with my remaining co-brains to see. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/38 "2016-11-15T22:11:53Z")
Spare brain #2 got it. It’s from the postwar article “How to Be A Survivor”: > [@](#): > > There is an old Chinese adage, “In the course of a long life a wise man will be prepared to abandon his baggage several times.” I am pretty sure he used the same phrasing, again as an offhand quote, somewhere else in the fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/39 "2016-11-15T22:14:19Z")
It’s Lazarus Long, I feel certain of it. Something about being ready to abandon his luggage. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514/40 "2016-11-15T22:19:38Z")
It is from Heinlein, but I’ve read so much of his work that I can’t recall which specific work. Maybe “Number of the Beast” which, because it wasn’t his best work, tends to be overlooked. I do recall that the people in that work had to flee their home universe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-quote-about-abandoning-possessions/771514.md?page=3)