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Famous Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Quotes

“It wasn't Mamigonian who made my parents stay in San Ignacio instead of moving to Fresno, say, where there really was an Armenian colony, whose members supported each other and kept the old language and customs and religion alive, and at the same time became happier and happier to be in California. My father could have become a belived teacher again! Oh, no--it wasn't Mamigonian who tricked him into being the unhappiest and loneliest of all the world's cobblers.”

HappinessPositivitySelf Fulfilling Prophecy
Book:Bluebeard
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“Poi si voltò verso di me, per farmi vedere com'era arrabbiata, e che quella rabbia era per me. Stava parlando tra sè, quindi quello che disse ad alta voce fu solo il frammento di una conversazione più lunga. “Eravate solo dei bambini, allora!” disse. “Cosa?” dissi io. “Eravate solo dei bambini, durante la guerra… come quelli che stanno giocando di sopra!” Annuii; era vero. All'epoca della guerra eravamo degli stupidi sbarbatelli, appena usciti dall'infanzia. “Ma lei non ha intenzione di scriverlo, questo, vero?” Non era una domanda; era un'accusa. “Io… io non so” dissi. “Be’, lo so io” fece lei “Fingerà che eravate degli uomini anziché dei bambini, e poi ne tireranno fuori un film interpretato da Frank Sinatra e John Wayne o da qualcun altro di quegli affascinanti vecchi sporcaccioni che vanno pazzi per la guerra. E la guerra sembrerà qualcosa di meraviglioso, e così ne avremo tante altre. E a combatterle saranno dei bambini come quelli che ho mandato di sopra.” Allora capii. Era la guerra a farle così rabbia. Non voleva che i suoi bambini o i bambini di chiunque altro si facessero ammazzare in guerra. E pensava che le guerre fossero in parte incoraggiate dai libri e dai film. Così alzai la mano destra e le feci una promessa. “Mary” dissi “non credo che arriverò mai a finire questo libro. Ormai devo avere scritto cinquemila pagine, e le ho buttate via tutte. Se mai lo finirò, comunque, le do la mia parola d'onore: non ci sarà una parte né per Frank Sinatra né per John Wayne. Le dirò una cosa” feci “Lo intitolerò La crociata dei bambini”. Da quel momento diventammo amici.”

Guerra
Book:SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE
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“So Roy's tears were understandable when he remembered tying animals to all those stakes. Such a cruel experiment had been performed on animals, of course, on sheep and pigs and cattle and horses and monkeys and ducks and chickens and geese, but surely not on a zoo such as Roy described. To hear him tell it, he had tethered peacocks and snow leopards and gorillas and crocodiles and albatrosses to the stakes. In his big brain, Bikini became the exact reverse of Noah's ark. Two of every sort of animal had been brought there in order to be atom-bombed.”

Atom Bomb
Book:Galápagos
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“I only wish the NRA and its jellyfish, well-paid supporters in legislatures both State and Federal would be careful to recite the whole of it, and then tell us how a heavily armed man, woman, or child, recruited by no official, led by no official, given no goals by any official, motivated or restrained only by his or her personality and perceptions of what is going on, can be considered a member of a well-regulated militia.”

InspirationPoliticsConstitutionGun Control
Book:Fates Worse Than Death: An Autobiographical Collage
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“One German-American friend of mine, an architectural historian my own age, can be counted on to excoriate Woodrow Wilson after he has had several strong drinks. He goes on to say that it was Wilson who persuaded this country that it was patriotic to be stupid, to be proud of knowing only one language, of believing that all other cultures were inferior and ridiculous, offensive to God and common sense alike, that artists and teachers and studious persons in general were ninnies when it came to dealing with problems in life that really mattered, and on and on. This friend says that it was a particular misfortune for this country that the German-Americans had achieved such eminence in the arts and education when it was their turn to be scorned from on high. To hate all they did and stood for at that time, which included gymnastics, by the way, was to lobotomize not only the German-Americans but our culture. "That left American football," says my German-American friend, and someone is elected to drive him home.”

KnowledgeIgnoranceStupidityPatriotismNationalityEthnicityWoodrow Wilson
Book:Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage
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“The women's liberation movement of today in America, in its most oceanic sense, is a wish by women to be liked for something other than their reproductive abilities, especially since the planet is harrowingly overpopulated. And the rejection of the Equal Rights Amendment by male state legislators is this clear statement by men, in my opinion: "We're sorry, girls, but your reproductive abilities are about all we can really like you for." The truth.”

WomenGenderWomen S RightsWomen S LiberationEraEqual Rights AmendmentWomen S Lib
Book:Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage
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“Your conscience, dammit - doesn't it ever bother you?" "Why should it? I've never done anything dishonest." "Let me put it another way: do you agree things are a mess?" "Between us?" "Everywhere! The world!" She could be appallingly nearsighted. Whenever possible, she liked to reduce any generalization to terms of herself and persons she knew intimately. "Homestead, for instance." "What else could we possibly give the people that they haven't got?" "There! You made my point for me. You said, what else could we give them, as though everything in the world were ours to give or withhold." "Somebody's got to take responsibility, and that's just the way it is when somebody does." "That's just it: things haven't always been that way. It's new, and it's people like us who've brought it about. Hell, everybody used to have some personal skill or willingness to work or something he could trade for what he wanted. Now that the machines have taken over, it's quite somebody who has anything to offer. All most people can do is hope to be given something." "If someone has brains," said Anita firmly, "he can still get to the top. That's the American way, Paul, and it hasn't changed." She looked at him appraisingly. "Brains and nerve, Paul." "And blinders." The punch was gone from his voice, and he felt drugged, a drowsiness from a little too much to drink, from scrambling over a series of emotional peaks and pits, from utter frustration.”

AutomationConciousnessHeirarchy
Book:Player Piano
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“Като пропагандист се бях надявал чисто и просто да съм смехотворен, но в този свят е ужасно трудно да си смехотворен, защото твърде много човешки същества не желаят да се смеят, не са способни да мислят, винаги са готови да вярват, да се зъбят и да мразят. Колко много хора искаха да ми вярват! Мислете каквото си искате за безусловната вяра, но за мен способността да вярваме, без да задаваме въпроси, е абсолютното зло.”

Mother Night
Author:Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
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“Има много причини, за да се биеш, но няма причина да мразиш без мярка, при това да мислиш, че Бог Всемогъщи мрази заедно с теб! Къде е злото? То е онази голяма част от всеки човек, която иска да мрази без ограничения, която иска Бог да е на нейна страна в омразата. Това е онази част от всеки човек, която намира грозотата за толкова привлекателна! Това е онази част от имбецила, казвам аз, която наказва и унижава, и с радост обявява войни.”

Mother Night
Author:Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
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“Father once said to me when he was an old man, after he had spent two years in prison, after he and Mother had lost all their money and art treasures in a lawsuit, that his greatest disappointment in life was that he had never been a soldier. That was almost the last illusion he had, and there might have been some substance to it—that he had been born to serve bravely and resourcefully on a battlefield.”

Kurt VonnegutPage 20
Book:Deadeye Dick
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“Billy licked his lips, thought a while, inquired at last: 'Why me?' 'That is a very Earthling question to ask, Mr. Pilgrim. Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is. Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber?' 'Yes.' Billy, in fact, had a paperweight in his office which was a blob of polished amber with three ladybugs embedded in it. 'Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why.”

97
Book:SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE
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“Forse, se cessassero di credere a pazzie come il fiume Denaro, e si mettessero a lavorare, finirebbero di passarsela così male." "Se il fiume Denaro non esiste, come ho fatto io oggi a guadagnare diecimila dollari, solo grattandomi e sonnecchiando, e rispondendo ogni tanto al telefono?" "E' ancora possibile, per un americano, costruirsi una fortuna." "Certo, purchè quando è ancora giovane qualcuno gli dica che il fiume Denaro esiste, che in questo non c'è nulla di giusto, che farebbe solo bene a scordarsi del duro lavoro, del criterio meritocratico, dell'onestà e di tutte quelle cagate, e ad andare dove scorre il fiume. 'Va' dove si trovanoi ricchi e i potenti' gli direi, 'e imparane i costumi. E' possibile lusingarli ed è possibile far loro paura. Soddisfali enormemente o spaventali enormemente, e una notte senza luna essi si porteranno un dito alle labbra, esortandoti a non far rumore. E nel buio to guideranno sino al fiume di ricchezze più largo e profondo che l'uomo abbia mai visto. Ti mostreranno il tuo posto sulla riva, e ti consegneranno un secchio tutto per te. Bevi finchè vuoi, ma cerca di non fare troppo chiasso. Un povero ptrebbe sentirti'".”

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Book:God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
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“As I told you," he said patiently, "I'm a student of sociology, which is the science of human society." There wasn't any point in telling her that the course was actually criminology. That might be offensive. There didn't seem to be much point in telling her anything, for that matter. "They made a science out of people?" she said. "What a crazy science that must be.”

PeopleHumansScienceHumanitySociology
Book:While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction
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