Slaughterhouse Five Quotes

• I don't think that Slaughterhouse-Five was successful movie material. In fact, Vonnegut's books mostly I don't feel are movie material.

  Jerry Garcia

  Movie, Book, Successful

  16 Copy quote

• ...when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Past, Alive, Slaughterhouse 5

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

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

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Love One Another, Slaughterhouse 5, Slaughter House Five

  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, Moments

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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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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• - Why me? - That is a very Earthling question to ask, Mr. Pilgrim. Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is. Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber? - Yes. - Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Amber, Matter, Bugs

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

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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, Trying, Literature

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

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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, Sound

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

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

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

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Slaughterhouse 5, Slaughter House Five, Wells

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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• She upset Billy simply by being his mother. She made him feel embarrassed and ungrateful and weak because she had gone to so much trouble to give him life, and to keep that life going, and Billy didn't really like life at all.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Mother, Giving, Ungrateful

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Gratitude, Awful, Slaughterhouse 5

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

  FaceBook post by Kurt Vonnegut from Jul 04, 2016

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

  Kurt Vonnegut

  People, Looks, Slaughterhouse 5

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

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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, Earth, Study

  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, Gone, Earth

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

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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, Causes, Depth

  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

  Matter, Why Me, Moments

  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, Billy Pilgrim, Slaughterhouse 5

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

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• There is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Intelligent, Slaughterhouse 5, Slaughterhouses

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.3, 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, Veteran, Slaughterhouse 5

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.156, Infobase Publishing

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• All this happened, more or less.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Chaos, Slaughterhouse 5, Slaughterhouses

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.112, Infobase Publishing

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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

  Might, Awful, Enough

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

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• And Lot's wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human. So she was turned into a pillar of salt. So it goes.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Home, People, Wife

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

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