There is no shortage of wonderful writers. What we lack is a dependable mass of readers. — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“I hate it that Americans are taught to fear some books and some ideas as though they were diseases.” — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
That's what my books are, now that I'm a grownup - mosaics of jokes. — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
Because we grew up surrounded by big dramatic story arcs in books and movies, we think our lives are supposed to be… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“Why don’t you write an anti-glacier book instead?’ What he meant, of course, was that there would always be wars, that they… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
Reading a novel, War and Peace for example, is no Catnap. Because a novel is so long, reading one is like being… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“Everybody was legally alive now. Before the got their names and numbers in that book, they were missing in action and probably… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
I think it can be tremendously refreshing if a creator of literature has something on his mind other than the history of… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“Is it an anti-war book?” “Yes,” I said. “I guess.” “You know what I say to people when I hear they’re writing… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
I was a chemistry major, but I'm always winding up as a teacher in English departments, so I've brought scientific thinking to… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
Honest to God, Bill, the way things are going, all I can think of is that I'm a character in a book… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
It is a big temptation to me, when I create a character for a novel, to say that he is what he… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
How important my books are or anybody's books are, I don't know. I don't think they are terribly important I think that… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
The book was Maniacs in the Fourth Dimension, by Kilgore Trout. It was about people whose mental diseases couldn't be treated because… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
I consider anybody a twerp who hasn't read 'Democracy in America' by Alexis de Tocqueville. There can never be a better book… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“Don’t give up on books. They feel so good—their friendly heft. The sweet reluctance of their pages when you turn them with… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
The master of ceremonies asked people to say what they thought the function of the novel might be in modern society, and… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
And what is literature, Rabo," he said, "but an insider's newsletter about affairs relating to molecules, of no importance to anything in… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“There isn't any particular relationship between all the messages, except that the author has chosen them carefully, so that, when seen all… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“The books he and his supporters wanted out of the schools, one of mine among them, were not pornographic, although he would… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“I think I am trying to clear my head of all the junk in there – the assholes, the flags, the underpants.… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
While on the subject of burning books, I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength, who, all over this… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
There is this thing called the university, and everybody goes there now. And there are these things called teachers who make students… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“I felt after I finished Slaughterhouse-Five that I didn’t have to write at all anymore if I didn’t want to. It was… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“I just can't help thinking what a real shake up it would give people if, all of a sudden, there were no… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“Another Kilgore Trout book there in the window was about a man who built a time machine so he could go back… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
I'm screamingly funny, you know, I really am in the books. And that helps because I'm funnier than a lot of people,… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
I am eternally grateful for my knack of finding in great books, some of them very funny books, reason enough to feel… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“I propose that every person out of work be required to submit a book report before he or she gets his or… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“Without acquainting me with the language or the literature or the oral family histories which my ancestors had loved, they volunteered to… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
I don't plot my books rigidly, follow a preconceived structure. A novel mustn't be a closed system - it's a quest. — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
I think jokes are a perfectly viable form of literature. Some critics take issue with me because I make my points and… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
Over the years, people I've met have often asked me what I'm working on, and I've usually replied that the main thing… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“And I realize now that the two main themes of my novels were stated by my siblings: 'Here I am, cleaning shit… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
A story has to be a good date, because the reader can stop at any time. Remember, readers are selfish and have… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
I was hoping to build a country and add to its literature. That's why I served in World War II, and that's… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“You know what I say to people when I hear they're writing anti-war books? I say 'Why don't you write an anti-glacier… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“You must bloom as a writer and I must bloom as a painter. Everything else about us is uninteresting.” — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share
“Have a good nap, did you?” said the porter. “Yes,” said Billy. “Man,” said the porter, “you sure had a hard-on.” — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share
“I told him that if we doubted that we are demons in Hell, he should read The Mysterious Stranger, which Mark Twain wrote in… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share
“Thomas Jefferson High School [..] His high school was named after a slave owner who was also one of the world’s greatest theoreticians on… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share
“I had a certain amount of skill as a dramatist, and Dr. Goebbels wanted me to use it” — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share
I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around. Lucky me, lucky mud. — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share
“The town was Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.A., Earth, Solar System, Milky Way.” — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share
“Her face was one of a kind, a surprising variation that made observers think, Yes--that would be another very nice way for people to… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share
“You finally fell in love, I see,” said Salo. “Only an Earthling year ago,” said Constant. “It took us that long to realize that… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share
“Like all Earthlings at the point of death, Mary Young sent faint reminders of herself to those who had known her. She released a… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share
“And contrast Mary Kathleen, if you will, with my wife Ruth, the Ophelia of the death camps, who believed that even the most intelligent… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share
Someday, someday, this crazy world will have to end, And our God will take things back that He to us did lend. And if,… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share
“There are plenty of good reasons for fighting," I said, "but no good reason ever to hate without reservation, to imagine that God Almighty… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share
