People
Tilting at windmills hurts you more than the windmills.
— Robert Heinlein ‧ Time Enough for Love
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
This line warns that fighting pointless, self-created battles causes more damage to the person fighting than to whatever imagined obstacle they're attacking. It reframes the classic image of tilting at windmills as a caution against wasted effort and self-inflicted harm from misdirected struggle.
Context reviewed