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I couldn't help wondering if that was what God put me on Earth for--to find out how much a man could take without breaking.

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.
Much
Couldn
Men
Wonder
Help
Helping
Earth
Find
Without
Wondering
Take
Breaking

More quotes by Kurt Vonnegut

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Einstein's E=mc2 is an extraordinary concept. So radical: matter and energy are two phases of the same sort of general stuff. There's only one other idea that radical: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Kurt Vonnegut
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There is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre.
Kurt Vonnegut
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If I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say, 'Kurt is up in heaven now.' That's my favorite joke.
Kurt Vonnegut
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The hopes and fears of all our years are here with us tonight.
Kurt Vonnegut
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Do you think Arabs are dumb? They gave us our numbers. Try doing long division with Roman numerals.
Kurt Vonnegut
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I'd rather have written Cheers than anything I've written.
Kurt Vonnegut
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The other American divisions on our flanks managed to pull out: We were obliged to stay and fight. Bayonets aren't much good against tanks.
Kurt Vonnegut
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Artists are useful to society because they are so sensitive. They are supersensitive. They keel over like canaries in coal mines filled with poison gas, long before more robust types realize that any danger is there.
Kurt Vonnegut
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When I used to teach creative writing, I would tell the students to make their characters want something right away.
Kurt Vonnegut
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I had a friend who was a heavy drinker. If somebody asked him if he'd been drunk the night before, he would always answer offhandedly, 'Oh, I imagine.' I've always liked that answer. It acknowledges life as a dream.
Kurt Vonnegut
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Socialism is, in fact, a form of Christianity, people wishing to imitate Christ.
Kurt Vonnegut
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Never trust a survivor until you know how they survived.
Kurt Vonnegut
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My ancestors came over from Germany about the time of the Civil War and one of them lost a leg and went back to Germany.
Kurt Vonnegut
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The slaves were simply turned loose without any property. They were easily recognizable. They were black. They were suddenly free to go exploring.
Kurt Vonnegut
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If I am going to spend eternity visiting this moment and that, I'm grateful that so many of those moments are nice.
Kurt Vonnegut
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My god-life! who can understand eve one little minute of it? 'don't try' he said 'just pretend you understand.
Kurt Vonnegut
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Words may deeply wound us, but we must run that risk to be free.
Kurt Vonnegut
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The only thing I ever learned was that some people are lucky and other people aren't and not even a graduate of the Harvard Business School can say why.
Kurt Vonnegut
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The Fourteenth Book is entitled, What can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years? It doesn't take long to read The Fourteenth Book. It consists of one word and a period. This is it: Nothing.
Kurt Vonnegut
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I taught writing for a while and whenever somebody would tell me they were going to write about their dad, I would tell them they might as well go write about killing puppies because neither story was going to work. It just doesn't work.
Kurt Vonnegut