"For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes (Matthew 5). But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course, that's Moses, not Jesus. I haven't heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere. "Blessed are the merciful" in a courtroom? "Blessed are the peacemakers" in the Pentagon? Give me a break!"
"Jokes can be noble. Laughs are exactly as honorable as tears. Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion, to the futility of thinking and striving anymore. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward - and since I can start thinking and striving again that much sooner."
3 likes
Source: Palm Sunday. Kurt Vonnegut's sermon at St. Clement's Church in New York City (1980), originally published in The Nation as Hypocrites You Always Have With You, 1980.
About the author
Same author
More quotes by Kurt Vonnegut
"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country."
"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be."
"There is a tragic flaw in our precious constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president."
"I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center."
"He didn't look like a soldier at all. He looked like a filthy flamingo."