Symbols can be so beautiful, sometimes. Kurt Vonnegut More Quotes by Kurt Vonnegut More Quotes From Kurt Vonnegut I pity the Jews trying to get through life with only half a Bible. That's like trying to get from here to San Francisco with a road map that stops at Dubuque, Iowa. Kurt Vonnegut san-francisco iowa religious Science never cheered up anyone. The truth about the human situation is just too awful. Kurt Vonnegut situation awful science A first grader should understand that her or his culture isn't a rational invention; that there are thousands of other cultures and they all work pretty well; that all cultures function on faith rather than truth; that there are lots of alternatives to our own society...Cultural relativity is defensible, attractive. It's a source of hope. It means we don't have to continue this way if we don't like it. Kurt Vonnegut other-cultures faith mean In this world, you get what you pay for. Kurt Vonnegut cradle pay world Everyone now knows how to find the meaning of life within himself. Kurt Vonnegut meaning-of-life know-how knows She was a dull person, but a sensational invitation to make babies. Kurt Vonnegut slaughterhouse-five baby dull I am beguiled by your physical beauty, and I am moved by how head-over-heels in love with books you are. And nowhere else have I found such thoughtful and literate reportage on the state of the American soul, as that soul makes itself known in the books we write. Kurt Vonnegut thoughtful writing book It was very exciting for her, taking his dignity away in the name of love. Kurt Vonnegut slaughterhouse-five dignity names The gun made a ripping sound like the opening of a zipper on the fly of God Almighty. Kurt Vonnegut slaughterhouse-five zippers gun One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters. Kurt Vonnegut character war people Trust a crowd to look at the wrong end of a miracle every time. Kurt Vonnegut crowds miracle looks Thank God for novelists. Thank God there are people willing to write everything down. Otherwise, so much would be forgotten. Kurt Vonnegut thank-god writing people The public health authorities never mention the main reason many Americans have for smoking heavily, which is that smoking is a fairly sure, fairly honorable form of suicide. Kurt Vonnegut suicide smoking reason If I am ever put to death on the hook, expect a very human performance. Kurt Vonnegut hook performances humans I have been a soreheaded occupant of a file drawer labeled "Science Fiction" ... and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics regularly mistake the drawer for a urinal. Kurt Vonnegut serious mistake fiction How complicated and unpredictable the machinery of life really is. Kurt Vonnegut machinery cradle complicated I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres, and that the news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them with satisfaction or glee. I have also told them not to work for companies which make massacre machinery, and to express contempt for people who think we need machinery like that. Kurt Vonnegut people son thinking the late twentieth century will go down in history, i'm sure, as an era of pharmaceutical buffoonery. Kurt Vonnegut eras late century egregious. most people think that word means terrible or unheard of or unforgivable. it has a much more interesting story than that to tell. it means "outside the herd." imagine that - thousands of people, outside the herd. Kurt Vonnegut mean people thinking I just know that there are plenty of people who are in terrible trouble and can't get out. And so I'm impatient with those who think that it's easy for people to get out of trouble. Kurt Vonnegut trouble people thinking