Kurt Vonnegut

"The purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved."

"A sum of money is a leading character in this examination of the corruption of America."

"Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt. This is my favorite joke."

"Lots of things are beautiful from far away, but from close up only a few are."

"Thanksgiving, as I understand it, is a typically American holiday."

"What is the purpose of a telescope? To make faraway things look close. What is the purpose of a microscope? To make close things look far away."

"I think that novels that leave out technology misrepresent life as badly as Victorians misrepresented life by leaving out sex."

"During the Vietnam War, every respectable artist in this country was against the war."

"Our awareness is not just a passive mirror of the world; it is an active appreciation of the world."

"Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I've come to learn, is women."

"Human beings will be happier, not when they cure cancer or get to Mars or eliminate racial prejudice, but when they find ways to inhabit primitive communities again."

"I myself have written 14 or 15 books, at least 10 of which I would like to see disappear."

"We are the only creatures that know we will die, and we know it all the time."

"The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die."

"Nowhere was the beginning of this novel."

"Only the dead have seen the end of war."

"I am a human, and I think what comes out of a human is human, even if it's written down or drawn or painted or sculpted or modeled or published."

"Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand."

"A Martian observer might conclude the only emotion Americans really felt was anxiety."

"I am powerless over my life, but I do the best I can with it."

"The future is just like the past, entered through another gate."

"Our little children are talking about moving to the cities."

"Cynicism is a form of idealism."

"The real culture of the world is not in Paris or New York, but wherever individuals have found a way to live together in peace."

"I love you, and I want you to do mankind a favor and make me an article that says so."

"One of the nice things about science fiction is that it lets us work through possibilities, play out scenarios."

"I wish you luck. Good luck means that when you live, you live well."

"What are people for?"

"I want to be an enthusiast about things I'm interested in rather than a cynic."

"God damn it, I will make you astonished at the breadth and beauty of your ignorance."