"Talent is extremely common. What is rare is the willingness to endure the life of the writer."
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Kurt Vonnegut quotes (page 16 of 49)
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"When the last living thing Has died on account of us, How poetical it would be If Earth could say, In a voice floating up Perhaps From the floor Of the Grand Canyon, "It is done." People did not like it here."
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"The proper ending for any story about people it seems to me, since life is now a polymer in which the Earth is wrapped so tightly, should be the same abbreviation, which I now write large because I feel like it, which is this one: ETC."
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"All persons, living and dead, are purely coincidental."
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"That’s the secret of artistic unity. Anybody can achieve it, if he or she will make something with only one person in mind."
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"Make love when you can. It's good for you."
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"He was a graduate of West Point, which is military academy that turns young men into homicidal maniacs for use in war."
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"There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters."
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"The worst thing that could possibly happen to anybody would be to not be used for anything by anybody. Thank you for using me, even though I didn't want to be used by anybody."
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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."
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"History is merely a list of surprises... It can only prepare us to be surprised yet again."
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"Did you ever admire an empty-headed writer for his or her mastery of the language? No. So your own winning style must begin with ideas in your head."
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"To whom it may concern: It is springtime. It is late afternoon."
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"I am eternally grateful for my knack of finding in great books, some of them very funny books, reason enough to feel honored to be alive, no matter what else might be going on."
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"I was a victim of a series of accidents, as are we all."
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"A sum of money is a leading character in this tale about people, just as a sum of honey might properly be a leading character in a tale about bees."
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"Sometimes I wonder about the Creator of the Universe."
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"Here is the solution to the American drug problem suggested a couple years back by the wife of our President: "Just say no."
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"Do you realize that all great literature is all about what a bummer it is to be a human being? Isn't it such a relief to have somebody say that?"
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"You can't just eat good food. You've got to talk about it too. And you've got to talk about it to somebody who understands that kind of food."
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