Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.was an American author. In a career spanning over 50 years, Vonnegut published fourteen novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five works of non-fiction. He is most famous for his darkly satirical, best-selling novel Slaughterhouse-Five...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth11 November 1922
CountryUnited States of America
admire christ extremely god hell human jesus matter speaks spoke whether
Well, to admire the hell out of Jesus Christ or of everyone who speaks well. And, well my grandfather said is-- if-- what Jesus said was marvelous. What does it matter whether he was God or not? And it doesn't matter. So this is a human being who spoke extremely well, and we humanists listened.
extremely younger
Younger scientists are extremely sensitive to the moral implications of all they do.
extremely following later man personal prior prisoner science study took war
I was not an anthropology student prior to the war. I took it up as part of a personal readjustment following some bewildering experiences as an infantryman and later as a prisoner of war in Dresden, Germany. The science of the Study of Man has been extremely satisfactory from that personal standpoint.
arrogance conquer deserve mean
Just because some of us can read and write and do a little math, that doesn't mean we deserve to conquer the universe.
dance-and-dancing dancing god lessons travel unexpected
Unexpected travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God
bird himself life man sit tiger
Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder, 'Why, why, why?' Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land; Man got to tell himself he understand.
careful pretend
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.
likes
I let the dog out, or I let him in, and we talk some. I let him know I like him, and he lets me know he likes me.
absolutely allowed fear literary members retrospect striking
It may be that the most striking thing about members of my literary generation in retrospect will be that we were allowed to say absolutely anything without fear of punishment.
brought chemistry english scientific teacher
I was a chemistry major, but I'm always winding up as a teacher in English departments, so I've brought scientific thinking to literature. There's been very little gratitude for this.
close effective power
Actually, to be an effective person politically in this country, I think you have to be thirty or over, and also you have to be rich, well-placed, you have to be close to power. And I don't think that young people, because they look young, can do much, as I think they are counterproductive.
novelists perhaps
I think I belong to America's last generation of novelists. Novelists will come one by one from now on, not in seeming families, and will perhaps write only one or two novels, and let it go at that.
anybody consider form government inherent strengths
I consider anybody a twerp who hasn't read 'Democracy in America' by Alexis de Tocqueville. There can never be a better book than that one on the strengths and vulnerabilities inherent in our form of government.
build hope
I hope to build a reputation as a science-fiction writer. That's the pitch. We'll see.