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Any man who would change the World in a significant way must have showmanship, a genial willingness to shed other people's blood, and a plausible new religion to introduce during the brief period of repentance and horror that usually follows bloodshed.

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.
World
Usually
Repentance
People
Blood
Follows
Showmanship
Religion
Shed
Genial
Change
Willingness
Bloodshed
Must
Significant
Plausible
Way
Period
Introduce
Would
Horror
Introducing
Men
Periods
Brief

More quotes by Kurt Vonnegut

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In an unmoored life like mine, sleep and hunger and work arrange themselves to suit themselves, without consulting me.
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If somebody says, I love you, to me, I feel as though I had a pistol pointed at my head. What can anybody reply under such conditions but that which the pistol-holder requires? I love you, too.
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You know, the Emancipation Proclamation was like giving freedom to domestic animals.
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I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.
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Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.
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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.
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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.
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The little girls were wearing black party dresses and black party shoes, so strangers would know at once how nice they were.
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It is, in the imagination of combat's fans, the divinely listless loveplay that follows the orgasm of victory. It is called 'mopping up.
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The umpire had comical news. The congregation had been theoretically spotted from the air by a theoretical enemy. They were all theoretically dead now. The theoretical corpses laughed and ate a hearty noontime meal.
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Anyone unable to understand how useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either.
Kurt Vonnegut
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It was very exciting for her, taking his dignity away in the name of love.
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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.
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Here's what I think the truth is: We are all addicts of fossil fuels in a state of denial, about to face cold turkey.
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Bad guys turned informer. Good guys didn't - no matter when, no matter what.
Kurt Vonnegut
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It's perfectly ordinary to be a socialist. It's perfectly normal to be in favor of fire departments.
Kurt Vonnegut
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You know what truth is? [...] It's some crazy thing my neighbor believes. If I want to make friends with him, I ask him what he believes. He tells me, and I say, Yeah, yeah - ain't it the truth?
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If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind.
Kurt Vonnegut
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In real life as in grand opera, arias only make hopeless situations worse.
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The library is full of stories of supposed triumphs which makes me very suspicious of it. It's misleading for people to read about great successes, since even for middle-class and upper-class white people, in my experience, failure is the norm.
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