Robert Heinlein and Specialization

Having spent my life learning more and more about less and less, and being envious of people who know more and more and more of less and less and less, this Robert Heinlein quote offers refreshing perspective.

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

"Stranger in a Strange Land" by Heinlein is one my all-time favorite SciFi novels. This particular quote is not from that book, however.