Slaughterhouse Five Quotes

• I don't think that Slaughterhouse-Five was successful movie material. In fact, Vonnegut's books mostly I don't feel are movie material.

  Jerry Garcia

  Movie, Book, Successful

  15 Copy quote

• ...when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Past, Alive, Slaughterhouse 5

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

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Love One Another, Slaughterhouse 5, Slaughter House Five

  KURT VONNEGUT, JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE”

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  17 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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, Moments

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• - 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

  Amber, Matter, Bugs

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

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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, Trying, Literature

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

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• The gun made a ripping sound like the opening of a zipper on the fly of God Almighty.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Gun, Zippers, Sound

  Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (2009). “Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five”, p.51, Infobase Publishing

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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, Say Anything

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

  15 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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”

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Slaughterhouse 5, Slaughter House Five, Wells

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• She upset Billy simply by being his mother. She made him feel embarrassed and ungrateful and weak because she had gone to so much trouble to give him life, and to keep that life going, and Billy didn't really like life at all.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Mother, Giving, Ungrateful

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Gratitude, Awful, Slaughterhouse 5

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

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• People aren’t supposed to look back. I’m certainly not going to do it anymore.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  People, Looks, Slaughterhouse 5

  KURT VONNEGUT, JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE”

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I’ve said before, bugs in amber.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Wisdom, Philosophy, Amber

  FaceBook post by Kurt Vonnegut from Jul 04, 2016

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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, Gone, Earth

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

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• If what Billy Pilgrim learned from the Tralfamadorians is true, that we will all live forever, no matter how dead we may sometimes seem to be, I am not overjoyed. Still--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

  Nice, Grateful, Forever

  Kurt Vonnegut (1969). “Slaughterhouse-five, Or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-dance with Death”, Random House LLC

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• The Population Reference Bureau predicts that the world's total population will double to 7,000,000,000 before the year 2000. I suppose they will all want dignity, I said.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Years, Population, World

  KURT VONNEGUT, JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE”

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• There isn’t any particular relationship between the messages, except that the author has chosen them carefully, so that, when seen all at once, they produce an image of life that is beautiful and surprising and deep. 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

  Love, Beautiful, Book

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• It was very exciting for her, taking his dignity away in the name of love.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Names, Dignity, Slaughterhouse 5

  KURT VONNEGUT JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  War, Literature, Slaughterhouse 5

  Kurt Vonnegut (1969). “Slaughterhouse-five, Or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-dance with Death”, Random House LLC

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves... It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Wise, Hate, Men

  "Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death". Book by Kurt Vonnegut, 1969.

  76 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Past, Chaos, Moments

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

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Bird, Slaughterhouse 5, Tees

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

  15 Copy quote

  Show source