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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

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Kurt Vonnegut
Age: 84 †
Born: 1922
Born: November 11
Died: 2007
Died: April 14
Author
Essayist
Journalist
Novelist
Peace Activist
Philosopher
Playwright
Science Fiction Writer
Screenwriter
Writer
Indianapolis
Indiana
Kurt Vonnegut
Jr.
People
Six
Mount
Phonetic
Ten
Marks
Vesuvius
Eight
Arrangements
Numerals
Mark
Symbols
Waterloo
Battle
Cast
Eruption
Eyes
Casts
Envision
Eye
Twenty
Punctuation
Book
Twenties
Arrangement

More quotes by Kurt Vonnegut

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I think it can be tremendously refreshing if a creator of literature has something on his mind other than the history of literature so far. Literature should not disappear up its own asshole, so to speak.
Kurt Vonnegut
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Music makes practically everybody fonder of life than he or she would be without it.
Kurt Vonnegut
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Ink and paper are as cheap as sand or water, almost. No board of directors has to convene in order to decide whether we can afford to write down this or that. I myself once staged the end of the world on two pieces of paper- at a cost of ...less than a penny, including wear and tear on my typewriter ribbon and the seat of my pants. 'Think of that.
Kurt Vonnegut
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Human beings are about 1,000 times dumber and meaner than they think they are.
Kurt Vonnegut
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Just in the nick of time they realized that it was their own habitat they were wrecking -- that they weren't merely visitors.
Kurt Vonnegut
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She was a fool, and so am I, and so is anyone who thinks he sees what God is Doing, [writes Bokonon].
Kurt Vonnegut
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In the water I am beautiful.
Kurt Vonnegut
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The system promotes to the top those who don't care about the planet.
Kurt Vonnegut
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Literature is the only art in which the audience performs the score.
Kurt Vonnegut
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I myself grew up when radio was very important. I'd come home from school and turn on the radio. There were funny comedians and wonderful music, and there were plays. I used to pass time with radio.
Kurt Vonnegut
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I went to New York to be born again. And when the train plunged into a tunnel under New York City, with its lining of pipes and wires, I was out of the womb and into the birth canal.
Kurt Vonnegut
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What war has always been is a puberty ceremony.
Kurt Vonnegut
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Well here you are, there it is, THIS is what it's all about.
Kurt Vonnegut
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Belief is nearly the whole of the universe whether based on truth or not.
Kurt Vonnegut
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Incidentally, I am honorary president of the American Humanist Association, having succeeded the great science fiction writer and biochemist Dr. Isaac Asimov. John Updike, who is religious, says I talk more about God than any seminarian. Socialism is, in fact, a form of Christianity, people wishing to imitate Christ.
Kurt Vonnegut
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Talent is extremely common. What is rare is the willingness to endure the life of the writer.
Kurt Vonnegut
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This is what I find encouraging about the writing trades: ... They allow lunatics to seem saner than sane.
Kurt Vonnegut
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Some jerk infected the Internet with an outright lie. It shows how easy it is to do and how credulous people are.
Kurt Vonnegut
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My father said, ‘When in doubt, castle.’
Kurt Vonnegut
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You want to know something? We are still in the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages--they haven't ended yet.
Kurt Vonnegut