A book is an arrangement of twenty-six phonetic symbols, ten numerals, and about eight punctuation marks, and people can cast their eyes over these and envision the eruption of Mount Vesuvius or the Battle of Waterloo. Kurt Vonnegut More Quotes by Kurt Vonnegut More Quotes From Kurt Vonnegut If you would be unloved and forgotten, be reasonable. Kurt Vonnegut reasonable would-be forgotten They tell him that there is no why, since the moment simply is and since all of them are trapped in the moment, like bugs in amber. Kurt Vonnegut amber bugs moments Be fruitful, and multiply. Kurt Vonnegut You develop a style from writing a lot. Kurt Vonnegut style writing It's a nice glass of champagne at the end of a life. Kurt Vonnegut glasses nice ends If facts weren't funny, or scary, or couldn't make you rich, the heck with them. Kurt Vonnegut hocus-pocus scary facts The bounties of space, of infinite outwardness, were three: empty heroics, low comedy, and pointless death. Kurt Vonnegut three space philosophy The chief weapon of sea pirates, however, was their capacity to astonish. Nobody else could believe, until it was too late, how heartless and greedy they were. Kurt Vonnegut pirate sea believe Any form of government, not just Capitalism, is whatever people who have all our money, drunk or sober, sane or insane, decide to do today. Kurt Vonnegut drunk government people Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John. Kurt Vonnegut cradle parent literature Bad guys turned informer. Good guys didn't - no matter when, no matter what. Kurt Vonnegut player-piano guy matter If you actually are an educated, thinking person, you will not be welcome in Washington, D.C. I know a couple of bright seventh graders who would not be welcome in Washington D.C. Kurt Vonnegut welcome couple thinking The surface of Earth heaved and seethed in fecund restlessness. Earth was most fertile where the most death was. Kurt Vonnegut fertile surface earth Just because you can read, write and do a little math, doesn't mean that you're entitled to conquer the universe. Kurt Vonnegut math writing mean The only thing I ever learned was that some people are lucky and other people aren't and not even a graduate of the Harvard Business School can say why. Kurt Vonnegut luck people school The hopes and fears of all our years are here with us tonight. Kurt Vonnegut hopes-and-fears tonight years What the Gospels actually said was: don't kill anyone until you are absolutely sure they aren't well connected. Kurt Vonnegut wells said religion How subservient to Jesus, or to a humane God Almighty, were the leaders of this country back in the 1840's, when Marx said such a supposedly evil thing about religion? They had made it perfectly legal to own human slaves, and weren't going to led women vote or hold public office, God forbid, for another eighty year. Kurt Vonnegut country years jesus The New York Daily News suggested that my biggest war crime was not killing myself like a gentleman. Presumably Hitler was a gentleman. Kurt Vonnegut gentleman new-york war During the Vietnam War, Abbie Hoffman announced that the new high was banana peels taken rectally. So then FBI scientists stuffed banana peels up their asses to find out if this was true or not. Kurt Vonnegut vietnam taken war