Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted. Kurt Vonnegut More Quotes by Kurt Vonnegut More Quotes From Kurt Vonnegut I wish you'd help me look into a more interesting problem - namely, my sanity. Kurt Vonnegut wishlooksinteresting Where do I get my ideas from? You might as well have asked that of Beethoven. He was goofing around in Germany like everybody else, and all of a sudden this stuff came gushing out of him. It was music. I was goofing around like everybody else in Indiana, and all of a sudden stuff came gushing out. It was disgust with civilization. Kurt Vonnegut germanycivilizationideas Virtually every writer I know would rather be a musician. Kurt Vonnegut musicianmusicknows And what gift of America to the rest of the world is actually most appreciated by the rest of the world? It is African American jazz and its offshoots. What is my definition of jazz? Safe sex of the highest order. Kurt Vonnegut ordersexamerica That's one thing Earthlings might learn to do, if they tried hard enough: Ignore the awful times and concentrate on the good ones. Kurt Vonnegut slaughterhouse-fiveawfulmight It's the emptiest and yet the fullest of all human messages: 'Good-bye. Kurt Vonnegut good-byemessagesgoodbye The little girls were wearing black party dresses and black party shoes, so strangers would know at once how nice they were. Kurt Vonnegut partynicegirl People aren’t supposed to look back. I’m certainly not going to do it anymore. Kurt Vonnegut slaughterhouse-fivepeoplelooks You can't help it but you were born without a heart. At least you tried to believe what the people with hearts believed — so you were a good man just the same. Kurt Vonnegut heartmenbelieve Pretend to be good always and even God will be fooled. Kurt Vonnegut fooledgods-willbe-good And I apologize to all of you who are the same age as my grandchildren. And many of you reading this are the same age as my grandchildren. They, like you, are being royally shafted and lied to by our Baby Boomer corporations and government. Kurt Vonnegut grandchildrenreadingbaby The moral of the story is we're here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And, what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. Kurt Vonnegut animalpeoplemoving When I used to teach creative writing, I would tell the students to make their characters want something right away. Kurt Vonnegut want-somethingwritingcharacter During my three years in Vietnam, I certainly heard plenty of last words by dying American footsoldiers. Not one of them, however, had illusions that he had somehow accomplished something worthwhile in the process of making the Supreme Sacrifice. Kurt Vonnegut sacrificedyingyears Don't worry about your father. He's a perfectly contented, self-sufficient zombie. Kurt Vonnegut selfworryfather The more pain I train myself to stand, the more I learn. You are afraid of pain now, Unk, but you won't learn anything if you don't invite the pain. And the more you learn, the gladder you will be to stand the pain. Kurt Vonnegut invitespaintrain We'd been apart so long--I'd been dead so long," she said in English. "I thought surely you'd built a new life, with no room in it for me. I'd hoped that." "My life is nothing but room for you." I said. "It could never be filled by anyone but you. Kurt Vonnegut new-lifelongrooms Don't you think that's the main reason people find [writing] so difficult? If they can write complete sentences and can use a dictionary, isn't that the only reason they find writing hard: they don't know or care about anything? Kurt Vonnegut writingpeoplethinking I didn't know then what a sperm was, and so wouldn't understand his answer for several years. "My boy," he said, "you are descended from a long line of determined, resourceful, microscopic tadpoles-- champions every one. Kurt Vonnegut boyslongyears Future generations will look back on TV as the lead in the water pipes that slowly drove the Romans mad. Kurt Vonnegut madwaterfunny
