Gary

“He should have known better because, early in his learnings under his brother Mahmoud, he had discovered that long human words (the longer the better) were easy, unmistakable, and rarely changed their meanings . . . but short words were slippery, unpredictable, changing their meanings without any pattern. Or so he seemed to grok. Short human words were never like a short Martian word—such as “grok” which forever meant exactly the same thing. Short human words were like trying to lift water with a knife.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

“But, Jill, if a thing is sinful on Sunday, it is sinful on Friday—at least it groks that way to an outsider, myself—or perhaps to a man from Mars.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

“Grok’ means to understand so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the process being observed—to merge, to blend, to intermarry, to lose personal identity in group experience.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

“Well, I’ll stick to the Old Testament, picking it to pieces usually doesn’t upset people quite so much.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land