“There's more to life than what you read in books. You'll find that out.” — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
I go on many thrilling adventures and wondrous, profound escapades through books. — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“No children. No books. Few friends. She seemed to know what she was doing.” — 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
“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
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
“If you would write a book about that and give the answer to that question, that 'why?' - you would have a… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“By reading the writings of the most interesting minds in history, we meditate with our own minds and theirs as well. This… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
Literature is by definition opinionated. It is bound to provoke the arguments in many quarters, not excluding the hometown or even the… — 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
“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
“The imagination circuit is taught to respond to the most minimal of cues. A book is an arrangement of 26 phonetic symbols,… — 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
“Trout, incidentally, had written a book about a money tree. It had twenty-dollar bills for leaves. Its flowers were government bonds. Its… — 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
Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“And the peanut butter-eaters on Earth were preparing to conquer the shazzbutter-eaters on the planet in the book by Kilgore Trout. By… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“There are no telegraphs on Tralfamadore. But you're right: each clump of symbols is a brief, urgent message-- describing a situation, a… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
“Eliza—” I said, “so many of the books I’ve read to you said love was the most important thing of all. Maybe… — 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
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
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
“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
“Anyone unable to understand how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either.” — 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
“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
“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
There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books… — Kurt Vonnegut Copy Share Image
You say what you have to say. But you have to learn to say it in such a way that the reader… — 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
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
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
“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
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
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
“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
![“Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them -- in order that the reader may see what they are made of." [From the preface.]” quote by Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c1/kurt-vonnegut-41_adversity_be-a-sadist-no-matter-how-sweet-and-inno_2549345.jpg)
