Slaughterhouse 5 Quotes - Page 2

• We went to the New York World's Fair, saw what the past had been like, according to the Ford Motor Car Company and Walt Disney, saw what the future would be like, according to General Motors. And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  New York, Past, Car

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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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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• The nicest veterans in Schenectady, I thought, the kindest and funniest ones, the ones who hated war the most, were the ones who'd really fought.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  War, Slaughterhouse Five, Veteran

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.156, 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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• America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves... It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Wise, Hate, Men

  "Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death". Book by Kurt Vonnegut, 1969.

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• One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  War, Character, People

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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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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• 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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• Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present, and the future.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Past, Slaughterhouse Five, Billy Pilgrim

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.14, Infobase Publishing

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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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• Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Life Changing, Slaughterhouse Five, Trying

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.19, Infobase Publishing

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• 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• The Population Reference Bureau predicts that the world's total population will double to 7,000,000,000 before the year 2000. I suppose they will all want dignity, I said.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Years, Slaughterhouse Five, Population

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

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• It was very exciting for her, taking his dignity away in the name of love.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Names, Slaughterhouse Five, Dignity

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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• They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Slaughterhouse Five, Love One Another, Slaughter House Five

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

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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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• Trout, incidentally, had written a book about a money tree. It had twenty-dollar bills for leaves. Its flowers were government bonds. Its fruit was diamonds. It attracted human beings who killed each other around the roots and made very good fertilizer.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Flower, Book, Government

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

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• If what Billy Pilgrim learned from the Tralfamadorians is true, that we will all live forever, no matter how dead we may sometimes seem to be, I am not overjoyed. Still--if I am going to spend eternity visiting this moment and that, I'm grateful that so many of those moments are nice.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Nice, Grateful, Forever

  Kurt Vonnegut (1969). “Slaughterhouse-five, Or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-dance with Death”, Random House LLC

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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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• There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  War, Character, People

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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• I have this disease late at night sometimes, involving alcohol and the telephone.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Night, Alcohol, Slaughterhouse Five

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.129, Infobase Publishing

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• All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  War, Slaughterhouse Five, Literature

  Kurt Vonnegut (1969). “Slaughterhouse-five, Or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-dance with Death”, Random House LLC

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