Bokonon Quotes

• The words were a paraphrase of the suggestion of Jesus: "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's." Bokonon's paraphrase was this: "Pay no attention to Caesar. Caesar doesn't have the slightest idea what's really going on.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Jesus, Ideas, Suggestions

  56 Copy quote

• Live by the harmless untruths that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Brave, Healthy, Kind

  16 Copy quote

• I wanted all things to seem to make some sense, So we could all be happy, yes, instead of tense. And I made up lies, so they all fit nice, and I made this sad world a paradise

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Lying, Nice, World

  12 Copy quote

• Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?' Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land; Man got to tell himself he understand.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Nature, Philosophy, Sleep

  FaceBook post by Kurt Vonnegut from May 27, 2016

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• "Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before," Bokonon tells us. "He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way."

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Fear, Hate, Hard Work

  "Cat's Cradle". Book by Kurt Vonnegut (Chapter 124), 1963.

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• All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Lying, Writing, Shameless

  Kurt Vonnegut (2009). “Cat's Cradle: A Novel”, p.5, Dial Press

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• In the beginning, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in his cosmic loneliness. And God said, "Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done." And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close to mud as man sat, looked around, and spoke. "What is the purpose of all this?" he asked politely. "Everything must have a purpose?" asked God. "Certainly," said man. "Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this," said God. And He went away.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Loneliness, Men, Thinking

  8 Copy quote

• Round and round we spin, with feet of lead and wings of tin.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Wings, Feet, Tin

  13 Copy quote

• Someday, someday, this crazy world will have to end,
  And our God will take things back that He to us did lend.
  And if, on that sad day, you want to scold our God,
  Why just go ahead and scold Him. He'll just smile and nod.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Crazy, World, Want

  "Cat's Cradle". Book by Kurt Vonnegut, 1963.

  62 Copy quote

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• Unusual travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Travel, Climbing, Dancing

  "Cat's Cradle". Book by Kurt Vonnegut, 1963.

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• Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter could be said to remedy anything.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Happiness, Growing Up, Disappointment

  17 Copy quote

• How complicated and unpredictable the machinery of life really is.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Complicated, Cradle, Machinery

  Kurt Vonnegut (2009). “Cat's Cradle: A Novel”, p.66, Dial Press

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• I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around. Lucky me, lucky mud.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Lucky, Looks, Mud

  9 Copy quote

• Anyone unable to understand how useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Lying, Book, Cradle

  9 Copy quote

• Oh, a lion hunter in the jungle dark, And a sleeping drunkard up in central park, and a Chinese dentist and a British queen All fit together in the same machine. Nice, nice, such very different people in the same device!

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Queens, Nice, Sleep

  9 Copy quote

• Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Inspirational, Education, Teenager

  "Cat's Cradle". Book by Kurt Vonnegut. Chapter 124: Frank's Ant Farm, 1963.

  73 Copy quote

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• After the thing went off, after it was a sure thing that America could wipe out a city with just one bomb, a scientist turned to Father and said, 'Science has now known sin.' And do you know what Father said? He said, 'What is sin?

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Father, Cities, America

  Kurt Vonnegut (2009). “Cat's Cradle: A Novel”, p.17, Dial Press

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• If I were a younger man, I would write a history of human stupidity; and I would climb to the top of Mount McCabe and lie down on my back with my history for a pillow; and I would take from the ground some of the blue-white poison that makes statues of men; and I would make a statue of myself, lying on my back, grinning horribly, and thumbing my nose at You Know Who.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Lying, Writing, Men

  "Cat's Cradle". Book by Kurt Vonnegut, ch. 127, 1963.

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• She was a fool, and so am I, and so is anyone who thinks he sees what God is Doing, [writes Bokonon].

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Writing, Thinking, Fool

  Kurt Vonnegut (2009). “Cat's Cradle: A Novel”, p.5, Dial Press

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• Pay no attention to Caesar. Caesar doesn't have the slightest idea what's really going on.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Ideas, Pay, Attention

  Kurt Vonnegut (2009). “Cat's Cradle: A Novel”, p.101, Dial Press

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• Man created the checkerboard; God created the karass.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Men, Checkerboard

  Kurt Vonnegut (2009). “Cat's Cradle: A Novel”, p.2, Dial Press

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• A lover's a liar, To himself he lies, The truthful are loveless, Like oysters their eyes!

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Liars, Lying, Eye

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• I do not say that children at war do not die like men, if they have to die. To their everlasting honor and our everlasting shame, they do die like men, thus making possible the manly jubilation of patriotic holidays. But they are murdered children all the same.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Children, War, Holiday

  "Cat's Cradle". Book by Kurt Vonnegut, Chapter 114, 1963.

  59 Copy quote

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• It is never a mistake to say good-bye.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Mistake, Bye, Good Bye

  Kurt Vonnegut (1988). “Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut”, p.152, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• They were lovebirds. They entertained each other endlessly with little gifts: sights worth seeing out the plane window, amusing or instructive bits from things they read, random recollections of times gone by. They were, I think, a flawless example of what Bokonon calls a duprass, which is a karass composed of only two persons.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Thinking, Sight, Two

  Kurt Vonnegut (2009). “Cat's Cradle: A Novel”, p.86, Dial Press

  8 Copy quote

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