Kurt Vonnegut
Novelist, Satirist
"Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why."
Slaughterhouse Five quotes
Slaughterhouse Five
35 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Kurt Vonnegut
Novelist, Satirist
"And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep."
Kurt Vonnegut
Novelist, Satirist
"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
Novelist, Satirist
"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
Novelist, Satirist
"And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like "Poo-tee-weet?"
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Slaughterhouse Five quotes (page 1 of 2)
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"All this happened, more or less."
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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."
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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"
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"Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue, the monograph went on. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact how hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves."
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"They do not love one another because they do not love themselves."
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"Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I’ve said before, bugs in amber."
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"Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is."
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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."
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"I have this disease late at night sometimes, involving alcohol and the telephone."
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"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."
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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."
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"There is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre."
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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."
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"Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present, and the future."
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"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."
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"Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected. So it goes."
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"Ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones."
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"...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."
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"It was very exciting for her, taking his dignity away in the name of love."
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"All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist."
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