Slaughter House 5 Quotes

• Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I’ve said before, bugs in amber.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Wisdom, Philosophy, Slaughterhouse Five

  FaceBook post by Kurt Vonnegut from Jul 04, 2016

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• He is in a constant state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows what part of his life he is going to have to act in next

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Slaughterhouse Five, Next, Slaughterhouse 5

  Kurt Vonnegut (1969). “Slaughterhouse-five: or, The children's crusade, a duty-dance with death”

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• I think you guys are going to have to come up with a lot of wonderful new lies, or people just aren't going to want to go on living.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Lying, Thinking, People

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.135, Infobase Publishing

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• People aren’t supposed to look back. I’m certainly not going to do it anymore.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  People, Slaughterhouse Five, Looks

  KURT VONNEGUT, JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE”

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• And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Healing, Slaughterhouse Five, Slaughterhouse 5

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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• There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Book, Slaughterhouse Five, Causes

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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• It is just an illusion here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone, it is gone forever.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Forever, Slaughterhouse Five, Gone

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.9, Infobase Publishing

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• Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue, the monograph went on. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact how hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Believe, Slaughterhouse Five, Facts

  "Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death". Book by Kurt Vonnegut (Chapter 5, p. 129), 1969.

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• That's one thing Earthlings might learn to do, if they tried hard enough: Ignore the awful times and concentrate on the good ones.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Slaughterhouse Five, Might, Awful

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.131, Infobase Publishing

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• If I hadn’t spent so much time studying Earthlings," said the Tralfamadorian, "I wouldn’t have any idea what was meant by 'free will.' I've visited thirty-one inhabited planets in the universe, and I have studied reports on one hundred more. Only on Earth is there any talk of free will.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Ideas, Slaughterhouse Five, Earth

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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• When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in bad condition in the particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments. Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is "So it goes.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Thinking, People, Slaughterhouse Five

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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• The gun made a ripping sound like the opening of a zipper on the fly of God Almighty.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Gun, Zippers, Slaughterhouse Five

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.51, Infobase Publishing

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• All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Past, Slaughterhouse Five, Chaos

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.8, Infobase Publishing

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• I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres, and that the news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them with satisfaction or glee. I have also told them not to work for companies which make massacre machinery, and to express contempt for people who think we need machinery like that.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Son, Thinking, People

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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• Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Slaughterhouse Five, Matter, Why Me

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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• There is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Intelligent, Slaughterhouse Five, Slaughterhouse 5

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.3, Infobase Publishing

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• The most important thing I learned [...] was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist.

  Gavin Extence

  Silly, Past, People

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• Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Tattoo, Beautiful, Hurt

  Kurt Vonnegut (2011). “Kurt Vonnegut: The Last Interview: And Other Conversations”, p.133, Melville House

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• I am a Tralfamadorian, seeing all time as you might see a stretch of the Rocky Mountains. All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Slaughterhouse Five, Mountain, Doe

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.141, Infobase Publishing

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• Listen:
  Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Book, Slaughterhouse Five, Billy Pilgrim

  Slaughterhouse-Five ch. 2 (1969)

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• It is so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like "Poo-tee-weet?

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Intelligent, Bird, Slaughterhouse Five

  Kurt Vonnegut (2002). “Slaughterhouse-Five”, Spark Notes

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• Ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Gratitude, Slaughterhouse Five, Awful

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.131, Infobase Publishing

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• Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected. So it goes.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Slaughterhouse Five, Slaughterhouse 5, Slaughter House Five

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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• And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like "Poo-tee-weet?

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Bird, Slaughterhouse Five, Slaughterhouse 5

  Kurt Vonnegut (2002). “Slaughterhouse-Five”, Spark Notes

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• How nice -- to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Life, Nice, Numbness

  Kurt Vonnegut (1988). “Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut”, p.140, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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