I’m 99% certain it is from Podkayne of Mars, and IIRC she is quoting from her diary while in transit from Mars to Earth. The quote is essentially something along this line: “any man who attempts to initiate a relationship with a woman without an open invitation from her is a fool.” Unfortunately, Google is completely failing me, despite several minutes of searching. Anybody know the exact quote, and did it indeed come from Podkayne’s diary?
The quote doesn’t ring any bells for me.
Me neither. I don’t think it’s from Podkayne. I remember that book reasonably well. Her diary entries during transit were along the lines of bitching about changing diapers, dining at the captains table, Wondering what her brother Clark was Up To, and using Caps for Emphasis.
Rings no RAH bells at all for me. Doesn’t even sound right in notion.
If anything it sounds like something Friday would have said. Or it could be a part of the inexcusably didactic Number of the Beast.
“PoM” was a Juvenile. And RAH had a hell of a time getting it past the Scribner’s editor. I can’t see that line in that story. That seems to me more of a Maureen, Hazel, or Lazarus quote.
To me sounds like Stranger in a Strange Land for some reason but sheesh its been 30 years since I read it.
It isn’t from “Stranger.”
Doesn’t sound like Heinlein at all.
Yeah, for Heinlein it would be an implied invitation since women of intelligence are always willing and men of intelligence know it. Having to get explicit is a sign of idiocy.
Oh, bullshit: “Miss Barkis is willing, Sam” is pretty explicit. Obscure (or obfuscated) enough to make it in print, but a direct proposition.
The “Barkis is willin’” quote is a peculiar one. It doesn’t mean she wants him or is available or interested as much as it means she feels like she owes him a piece. He rejects the offer.
I can’t place that quotation either, by RAH or anyone else.
There’s a scene in The Number of the Beast where Hilda reminisces about setting Zebediah up to make a pass at her and then ignoring the pass in order to maintain a non-sexual relationship with her. She didn’t word it like the OP though.
Number of the Beast is not inexcusably didactic. It’s a parody of bad novels.
Not Heinlein.
And I own The Virginia Edition.
Concur, after thinking about it for a day or so after my first post.
And I’m in the* VE*. 
I have pretty much the entire canon memorized… and it’s not ringing any bells with me, either.