# Quote — Robert A. Heinlein, The Past Through Tomorrow

> There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute nor common law. Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back, for their private benefit.

- Author: [Robert A. Heinlein](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein.md)
- Book: [The Past Through Tomorrow](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-past-through-tomorrow.md)
- Page: 25
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein#The_Past_Through_Tomorrow_(1967)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-past-through-tomorrow/there-has-grown

## More from this book

> “Yes, maybe it’s just one colossal big joke with no point to it.” Lazarus stood up and stretched and scratched his ribs. “But I can tell you this, Andy, whatever the answers are, here’s one monkey that’s going to keep on climbing, and looking around him to see what he can see, as long as the tree holds out.”

p. 667 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-past-through-tomorrow/yes-maybe-its.md)

> “What course of action do you favor?”
>
> “Me? Why, none. Mary, if there is any one thing I have learned in the past couple of centuries, it’s this: These things pass. Wars and depressions and Prophets and Covenants—they pass. The trick is to stay alive through them.”

p. 539 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-past-through-tomorrow/what-course-of-action.md)

> I think perhaps of all the things a police state can do to its citizens, distorting history is possibly the most pernicious.

p. 401 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-past-through-tomorrow/i-think-perhaps.md)