Robert Shea

American novelist and journalist

Robert Joseph Sheawas an American novelist and former journalist best known as co-author with Robert Anton Wilson of the science fantasy trilogy Illuminatus! It became a cult success and was later turned into a marathon-length stage show put on at the British National Theatre and elsewhere.

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About the Robert Shea

Robert Joseph Sheawas an American novelist and former journalist best known as co-author with Robert Anton Wilson of the science fantasy trilogy Illuminatus! It became a cult success and was later turned into a marathon-length stage show put on at the British National Theatre and elsewhere. In 1986 it won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award. Shea went on to write several action novels based in exotic historical settings.

26 Quotes by Robert Shea

  1. 1.

    Anyone who seeks power wants absolute power.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  2. 2.

    The Gnostics were rapidly driven out of business by the hierarchical orthodox Christians.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  3. 3.

    The ability to get ahead in an organization is simply another talent, like the ability to play chess, paint pictures, do coronary bypass operations or pick pockets.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  4. 4.

    A permanent division of labor inevitably creates occupational and class inequality and conflict.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  5. 5.

    This whole phenomenon of the diversion of organizations from their purposes and ideals does not seem very serious when the scum rise to the top in the bridge club or the offices of a small magazine publisher.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  6. 6.

    You are attached to what you attack.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  7. 7.

    One simple way to keep organizations from becoming cancerous might be to rotate all jobs on a regular, frequent and mandatory basis, including the leadership positions.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  8. 8.

    That the more authoritarian organizations survive and prevail goes generally unnoticed because people focus on the objectives of organizations, which are many and varied, rather than on their structures, which lend to be similar.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  9. 9.

    Every combination of two or more human beings has both a useful aspect and a political aspect.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  10. 10.

    To reject even one major tenet of the religion or to violate one major rule of behavior is enough to get one kicked out – or worse.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  11. 11.

    As such people achieve influence within the organization, whenever there is a conflict between their own interest and the interest of the organization, their interests will win out.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  12. 12.

    Organized religion provides a model of the way all organizations, from the state down to the village garden club, end a price in terms of a member’s freedom of thought and action.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  13. 13.

    But instead I usually say that, though it may surprise them, I too believe in the necessity of organization.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  14. 14.

    Ultimately we may still ask, why can’t humans design a perfect society?

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  15. 15.

    It often happens that when a person possesses a particular ability to an extraordinary degree, nature makes up for it by leaving him or her incompetent in every other department.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  16. 16.

    Indeed, if our ancestors of millions of years ago hadn’t learned how to care for one another and hunt in packs, they’d all have ended up being eaten by leopards.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  17. 17.

    Military organization, like religious organization, can be seen as a paradigm of organization in general.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  18. 18.

    Indeed, one of the most successful and influential religious organizations in history, the Society of Jesus, was consciously modeled along military lines by its founder, Ignatius Loyola.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  19. 19.

    Because the better an organization is at fulfilling its purpose, the more it attracts people who see the organization as an opportunity to advance themselves.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  20. 20.

    But the more an organization succeeds and prospers, the more it is likely to be diverted from its original ideals, principles and purposes.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  21. 21.

    The key element in tragedy is that heroes and heroines are destroyed by that which appears to be their greatest strength.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  22. 22.

    Of all human inventions the organization, a machine constructed of people performing interdependent functions, is the most powerful.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  23. 23.

    Individuals, too, who cultivate a variety of skills seem brighter, more energetic and more adaptable than those who know how to do one thing only.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  24. 24.

    Just as predatory animals follow a similar general design and behave in similar ways, so organizations, especially those in competition with one another, must follow certain design principles if they are to succeed and prevail.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  25. 25.

    It is instructive, for instance, to trace the computer industry’s decline in vision, idealism, creativity, romance and sheer fun as it becomes more and more important and prosperous.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist

  26. 26.

    Even while we busily attend meetings, contribute money and perform our assigned tasks, we suspect that we may be helping to create a force that is inimical to many values we hold dear.

    Robert Shea

    American novelist and journalist