Bad breath Quote by Kurt Vonnegut
““What are you?' Trout asked the boy scornfully. 'Some kind of gutless wonder?' This, too, was the title of a book by Trout, The Gutless Wonder. It was about a robot who had bad breath, who became popular after his halitosis was cured. But what made the story remarkable, since it was written in 1932, was that it predicted the widespread use of burning jellied gasoline on human beings. It was dropped on them from airplanes. Robots did the dropping. They had no conscience, and no circuits which would allow them to imagine what was happening to the people on the ground. Trout's leading robot looked like a human being, and could talk and dance and so on, and go out with girls. And nobody held it against him that he dropped jellied gasoline on people. But they found his halitosis unforgivable. But then he cleared that up, and he was welcomed to the human race.””
About This Quote
Source Short story: “The Gutless Wonder” by Kurt Vonnegut, 1932
A robot with bad breath becomes popular after curing it, yet its immoral actions are ignored while a minor flaw is condemned.
In simple terms: Minor flaws are punished, major harms ignored.
Key Takeaway
Focus on fixing small issues before larger ones.
Themes
ethics
technology
hypocrisy
humanity
Mood
irry
critical
thought‑provoking
Type
satire
commentary
fictional
When to use this quote
- warfare ethics
- AI development
- public perception of technology
- media influence
Key Concepts
consequentialism
moral blindness
social critique
Questions to Reflect On
- What does this say about society’s priorities?
- How can we ensure moral accountability in tech?
A Different Perspective
The narrative is fictional and satirical, not a factual account of historical events.
![“Thomas Jefferson High School [..] His high school was named after a slave owner who was also one of the world’s greatest theoreticians on the subject of human liberty.” quote by Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/73a/kurt-vonnegut-41_freedom_thomas-jefferson-high-school-his-high-sc_9727.jpg)
