Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, 1922 - 2007
Born: 11 November 1922, Indianapolis, Indiana
Died: 11 April 2007, New York City
Kurt Vonnegut wrote for the daily school paper at Shortridge High School at Indianapolis, then went on to Cornell University but couldn't connect with the subjects his father had pushed him to pursue, although he enjoyed writing for the Cornell Daily Sun. He joined the army and was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. He survived the fire bombing of Dresden huddled in an underground meat locker, the genesis of Slaughterhouse Five. After the war he studied anthropology at the University of Chicago where the faculty unanimously rejected his thesis in 1946 — they decided to grant his Masters degree in 1971 based on Cat's Cradle. He worked in public relations for General Electric in upstate New York and served as a volunteer fire fighter in Alplaus, a nearby town, and received honors as a fallen brother from that department at his death. Vonnegut turned to writing full time in 1951 with great success starting in the '60s. I'm one of many that will always display a wry smile when I hear the phrase "Breakfast of Champions." Although he greatly admired Jesus, particularly the Beatitudes, he considered himself "irreligious" and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association. His early work was signed "Kurt Vonnegut, Jr", the "Jr" was dropped beginning with Slapstick in 1976. A long-time heavy smoker, he escaped the worst effects of that, but suffered irreversible brain injuries in a fall at his home and died soon after.
Biography from Wikipedia and Vonnegut Web
Additional quotes from Wikiquote. Wikiquote entries are often "sourced" and may include items longer than those included here, particularly for poets, lyricists, and dramatists.
Kurt Vonnegut quotes:
Quotes found : 266 — (15 per page, this is page 1 of 18) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Next
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- 1492. As children we were taught to memorize this year with pride and joy as the year people began living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America. Actually, people had been living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America for hundreds of years before that. 1492 was simply the year sea pirates began to rob, cheat, and kill them. permalink
Kurt Vonnegut - A first grader should understand that his or her culture isn't a rational invention; that there are thousands of other cultures and they all work pretty well; that all cultures function on faith rather than truth; that there are lots of alternatives to our own society. Cultural relativity is defensible and attractive. It's also a source of hope. It means we don't have to continue this way if we don't like it. permalink
Kurt Vonnegut - Playboy interview (July 1973) - A great swindle of our time is the assumption that science has made religion obsolete. All science has damaged is the story of Adam and Eve and the story of Jonah and the Whale. Everything else holds up pretty well, particularly lessons about fairness and gentleness. People who find those lessons irrelevant in the twentieth century are simply using science as an excuse for greed and harshness. Science has nothing to do with it, friends. permalink
Kurt Vonnegut - Bennington College commencement address (1970) - A joke is like building a mousetrap from scratch. You have to work pretty hard to make the thing snap when it is supposed to snap. permalink
Kurt Vonnegut - A Man Without a Country (2005) - A lot of critics think I'm stupid because my sentences are so simple and my method is so direct: they think these are defects. No. The point is to write as much as you know as quickly as possible. permalink
Kurt Vonnegut - A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved. permalink
Kurt Vonnegut - The Sirens of Titan (1959) - A saint is a person who behaves decently in a shockingly indecent society. permalink
Kurt Vonnegut - A Man Without a Country (2005) - A sane person to an insane society must appear insane. permalink
Kurt Vonnegut - Welcome to the Monkey House (1968) - 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. permalink
Kurt Vonnegut - God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine (1965) - About astrology and palmistry: they are good because they make people vivid and full of possibilities. They are communism at its best. Everybody has a birthday and almost everybody has a palm. permalink
Kurt Vonnegut - Bennington College commencement address (1970) - All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies. permalink
Kurt Vonnegut - All persons, living and dead, are purely coincidental. permalink
Kurt Vonnegut - Timequake (1996) - All right — I'll tell you what you did for me: you went for happy, silly, beautiful walks with me. permalink
Kurt Vonnegut - Bluebeard (1987) - All the great story lines are great practical jokes that people fall for over and over again. permalink
Kurt Vonnegut - All these people talk so eloquently about getting back to good old-fashioned values. Well, as an old poop I can remember back to when we had those old-fashioned values, and I say let's get back to the good old-fashioned First Amendment of the good old-fashioned Constitution of the United States — and to hell with the censors! Give me knowledge or give me death! permalink
Kurt Vonnegut
Quotes found : 266 — (15 per page, this is page 1 of 18) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Next
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