“I say, ‘Why don’t you write an anti-glacier book instead?’” What he meant, of course, was that there would always be wars,… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“...I had come suddenly to pity them, for I understood how innocent and natural it was for them to behave abominably, and… — 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
Literature is the only art in which the audience performs the score. — 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
But by accident, not by cunning calculation, books, because of their weight and texture, and because of their sweetly token resistance to… — 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
“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
“Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them -- in order that… — 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
I have become an enthusiast for the printed word again. I have to be that, I now understand, because I want to… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
1. Find a subject you care about. 2. Do not ramble, though. 3. Keep it simple. 4. Have the guts to cut.… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
My country is in ruins. So I'm a fish in a poisoned fishbowl. I'm mostly just heartsick about this. There should have… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“They were doing their best to live like people invented in story books. This was the reason Americans shot each other so… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“As for literary criticism in general: I have long felt that any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel or… — kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“[Books] were devices as crassly practical for storing or transmitting language, as the latest Silicon Valley miracles. But by accident, not by… — 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
“The name of the book was The Big Board. He got a few paragraphs into it, and then he realized that he… — 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
“There's more to life than what you read in books. You'll find that out.” — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“Hiroshima. So I’ve got to put something about it in my book. From the official Air Force standpoint, it’ll all be new.”… — 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
“You must bloom as a writer and I must bloom as a painter. Everything else about us is uninteresting.” — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“I had a certain amount of skill as a dramatist, and Dr. Goebbels wanted me to use it” — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around. Lucky me, lucky mud. — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“The town was Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.A., Earth, Solar System, Milky Way.” — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
