Kurt Vonnegut

"So I went to New York City to be born again. It was and remains easy for most Americans to go somewhere else and start anew. I wasn't like my parents. I didn't have any supposedly sacred piece of land or shoals of friends to leave behind. Nowhere has the number zero been of more philisophical value than in the United States.... and when the [train] plunged into a tunnel under New York City, with it's lining of pipes and wires, I was out of the womb and into the birth canal."

6 likes

Source: Cat's Cradle. Book by Kurt Vonnegut, 1963.

About the author

Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut

Novelist, Satirist

Kurt Vonnegut was an American author known for his satirical novels, particularly 'Slaughterhouse-Five', which critiques war and explores human existence.

All quotes by Kurt Vonnegut →

Same author

More quotes by Kurt Vonnegut

See all →
Kurt Vonnegut Novelist, Satirist

"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!"

Read quote
Kurt Vonnegut Novelist, Satirist

"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."

Read quote