The hare of history once more overtakes the tortoise of art. Kurt Vonnegut More Quotes by Kurt Vonnegut More Quotes From Kurt Vonnegut 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 Literature should not disappear up its own asshole, so to speak. Kurt Vonnegut disappear speak literature I can see where influential people would like Maharishi better than Jesus. My God, if the Beatles and Mia Farrow went to Jesus, He'd tell them to give all their money away. Kurt Vonnegut giving people jesus In the beginning, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in his cosmic loneliness. And God said, "Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done." And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close to mud as man sat, looked around, and spoke. "What is the purpose of all this?" he asked politely. "Everything must have a purpose?" asked God. "Certainly," said man. "Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this," said God. And He went away. Kurt Vonnegut loneliness men thinking I urge you to please notice when you are happy. Kurt Vonnegut crowning-glory optimistic-life please I am eternally grateful for my knack of finding in great books, some of them very funny books, reason enough to feel honored to be alive, no matter what else might be going on. Kurt Vonnegut knack grateful book Being American is to eat a lot of beef steak, and boy, we've got a lot more beef steak than any other country, and that's why you ought to be glad you're an American. And people have started looking at these big hunks of bloody meat on their plates, you know, and wondering what on earth they think they're doing. Kurt Vonnegut food boys country Trout, incidentally, had written a book about a money tree. It had twenty-dollar bills for leaves. Its flowers were government bonds. Its fruit was diamonds. It attracted human beings who killed each other around the roots and made very good fertilizer. Kurt Vonnegut government flower book love is a hawk with velvet claws love is a rock with heart and veins love is a lion with satin jaws love is a storm with silken reins Kurt Vonnegut rocks heart love-is The arts are not a way to make a living. Kurt Vonnegut breakfast-of-champions way art What a bummer it is to be a human being. Kurt Vonnegut being-human humans humanity The worst thing that could possibly happen to anybody would be to not be used for anything by anybody. Thank you for using me, even though I didn't want to be used by anybody. Kurt Vonnegut used would-be want There's only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you've got to be kind. Kurt Vonnegut be-kind kindness baby Shrapnel was invented by an Englishman of the same name. Don't you wish you could have something named after you? Kurt Vonnegut wish-you names wish I believe that reading and writing are the most nourishing forms of meditation anyone has so far found. By reading the writings of the most interesting minds in history, we meditate with our own minds and theirs as well. This to me is a miracle. Kurt Vonnegut reading writing believe To the as-yet-unborn, to all innocent wisps of undifferentiated nothingness: Watch out for life. Kurt Vonnegut wisps innocent watches That was what made them so hilarious and unafraid. That was the strength of the Nazis. [...] They understood God better than anyone. They knew how to make Him stay away. Kurt Vonnegut nazi understood made I myself feel that our country, for whose Constitution I fought in a just war, might as well have been invaded by Martians and body snatchers. Sometimes I wish it had been. What has happened, though, is that it has been taken over by means of the sleaziest, low-comedy, Keystone Cops-style coup d'etat imaginable. Kurt Vonnegut taken war country But some of the nonsense was evil, since it concealed great crimes. For example, teachers of children in the United States of America wrote this date on blackboards again and again, and asked the children to memorize it with pride and joy: 1492. The teachers told the children that this was when their continent was discovered by human beings. Actually, millions of human beings were already living full and imaginative lives on the continent in 1492. That was simply the year in which sea pirates began to cheat and rob and kill them. Kurt Vonnegut pride teacher children There is no shortage of wonderful writers. What we lack is a dependable mass of readers. Kurt Vonnegut reading wonderful book
