Slaughter House Five Quotes

• It is just an illusion here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone, it is gone forever.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Forever, Slaughterhouse Five, Gone

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.9, Infobase Publishing

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• There is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Intelligent, Slaughterhouse Five, Slaughterhouse 5

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.3, Infobase Publishing

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• Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected. So it goes.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Slaughterhouse Five, Slaughterhouse 5, Wells

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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• 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 Five, Might, Awful

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.131, Infobase Publishing

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• There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Book, Slaughterhouse Five, Causes

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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• All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Past, Slaughterhouse Five, Chaos

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.8, Infobase Publishing

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• One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  War, Character, People

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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• When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in bad condition in the particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments. Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is "So it goes.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Thinking, People, Slaughterhouse Five

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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• If I hadn’t spent so much time studying Earthlings," said the Tralfamadorian, "I wouldn’t have any idea what was meant by 'free will.' I've visited thirty-one inhabited planets in the universe, and I have studied reports on one hundred more. Only on Earth is there any talk of free will.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Ideas, Slaughterhouse Five, Earth

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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• And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like "Poo-tee-weet?

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Bird, Slaughterhouse Five, Slaughterhouse 5

  Kurt Vonnegut (2002). “Slaughterhouse-Five”, Spark Notes

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• Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present, and the future.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Past, Slaughterhouse Five, Billy Pilgrim

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.14, Infobase Publishing

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• Listen:
  Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Book, Slaughterhouse Five, Billy Pilgrim

  Slaughterhouse-Five ch. 2 (1969)

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• The nicest veterans in Schenectady, I thought, the kindest and funniest ones, the ones who hated war the most, were the ones who'd really fought.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  War, Slaughterhouse Five, Veteran

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.156, Infobase Publishing

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• And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Healing, Slaughterhouse Five, Slaughterhouse 5

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

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• The most important thing I learned [...] was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist.

  Gavin Extence

  Silly, Past, People

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• Ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Gratitude, Slaughterhouse Five, Awful

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.131, Infobase Publishing

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• How nice -- to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Life, Nice, Numbness

  Kurt Vonnegut (1988). “Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut”, p.140, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Tattoo, Beautiful, Hurt

  Kurt Vonnegut (2011). “Kurt Vonnegut: The Last Interview: And Other Conversations”, p.133, Melville House

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• I am a Tralfamadorian, seeing all time as you might see a stretch of the Rocky Mountains. All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Slaughterhouse Five, Mountain, Doe

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.141, Infobase Publishing

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• I think you guys are going to have to come up with a lot of wonderful new lies, or people just aren't going to want to go on living.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Lying, Thinking, People

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.135, Infobase Publishing

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• Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Life Changing, Slaughterhouse Five, Trying

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.19, Infobase Publishing

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• All this happened, more or less.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Slaughterhouse Five, Chaos, Slaughterhouse 5

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.112, Infobase Publishing

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• He is in a constant state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows what part of his life he is going to have to act in next

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Slaughterhouse Five, Next, Slaughterhouse 5

  Kurt Vonnegut (1969). “Slaughterhouse-five: or, The children's crusade, a duty-dance with death”

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• It is so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like "Poo-tee-weet?

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Intelligent, Bird, Slaughterhouse Five

  Kurt Vonnegut (2002). “Slaughterhouse-Five”, Spark Notes

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• - 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. - Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Slaughterhouse Five, Amber, Matter

  Kurt Vonnegut (1969). “Slaughterhouse-five: or, The children's crusade, a duty-dance with death”

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