# Quote — Robert A. Heinlein, Job: A Comedy of Justice

> I knew that flying machines were impossible; in engineering school I had studied Professor Simon Newcomb's well-known mathematical proof that the efforts of Professor Langley and others to build an aerodyne capable of carrying a man were doomed, useless, because scale theory proved that no such contraption large enough to carry a man could carry a heat-energy plant large enough to lift it off the ground—much less a passenger.
>
> That was science's final word on a folly and it put a stop to wasting public monies on a will-o'-the-wisp. Research and development money went into airships, where it belonged, with enormous success.
>
> However, in the past few days I had gained a new angle on the idea of "impossible". When a veritable flying machine showed up in our sky, I was not greatly surprised.

- Author: [Robert A. Heinlein](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein.md)
- Book: [Job: A Comedy of Justice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/job-a-comedy-of-justice.md)
- Page: 97
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Job:_A_Comedy_of_Justice#Quotes) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/job-a-comedy-of-justice/i-knew-that

## More from this book

> You are in great danger. And so am I, although I think your danger is much greater than mine. But, Alec, I can assure you of this: If It decides to extinguish you, you will never know it. It is not a sadistic God.

p. 426 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/job-a-comedy-of-justice/you-are-in-great.md)

> Oy! Every prophecy I fulfilled! And now He tells me consistent I am not! This is justice?

p. 434 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/job-a-comedy-of-justice/oy-every-prophecy.md)

> A man who is happy at home doesn’t lie awake nights worrying about the hereafter.

p. 438 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/job-a-comedy-of-justice/a-man-who.md)