Authors / Writers

54 Best Kurt Vonnegut Quotes (INSPIRATION)

December 1, 2023December 1, 2023

Top 10 Most Famous Kurt Vonnegut Quotes (BEST)

“The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake.”
Kurt Vonnegut

I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center.

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.

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

True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.

There is love enough in this world for everybody, if people will just look. — There is love enough in this world for everybody, if people will just look.

I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different. — I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you different.

Nobody's so damn well educated that you can't learn ninety percent of what he knows in six weeks. The other ten percent is decoration. — Nobody’s so damn well educated that you can’t learn ninety percent of what he knows in six weeks. The other ten percent is decoration.

There is no order in the world around us, we must adapt ourselves to the requirements of chaos instead.

We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.

10 Kurt Vonnegut Quotes on Life

But you find out quick enough that old friends are old friends, and nothing more — no wiser, no more help than anyone else.

How nice - to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive. — How nice – to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive.

And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep.

The last thing I ever wanted was to be alive when the three most powerful people on the whole planet would be named Bush, Dick and Colon.

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.

If you would be unloved and forgotten, be reasonable.

I admire anybody who finishes a work of art, no matter how awful it may be.

That is my principal objection to life, I think It is too easy, when alive, to make perfectly horrible mistakes. — That is my principal objection to life, I think: It is too easy, when alive, to make perfectly horrible mistakes.

The poetry of four seasons is all wrong for this part of the planet, and this may explain why we are so depressed so much of the time. — The poetry of four seasons is all wrong for this part of the planet, and this may explain why we are so depressed so much of the time.

There are plenty of good reasons for fighting, but no good reason ever to hate without reservation, to imagine that God Almighty Himself hates with you, too.

4 Kurt Vonnegut Quotes on Communities

“What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.”
Kurt Vonnegut

If you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own.

I think big business is a terrible thing for the spirit of the country, as our spirit is the best thing about us. — I think big business is a terrible thing for the spirit of the country, as our spirit is the best thing about us.

Be aware of this truth that the people on this earth could be joyous, if only they would live rationally, and if they would contribute mutually to each others’ welfare. — Be aware of this truth that the people on this earth could be joyous, if only they would live rationally, and if they would contribute mutually to each others’ welfare.

10 Kurt Vonnegut Quotes on Happiness

And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.' — And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’

Live by the harmless untruths that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy. — Live by the harmless untruths that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning do to do afterward.

Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, 'It might have been.' — Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, ‘It might have been.’

Human beings will be happier - not when they cure cancer or get to Mars or eliminate racial prejudice or flush Lake Erie but when they find ways to inhabit primitive communities again. — Human beings will be happier – not when they cure cancer or get to Mars or eliminate racial prejudice or flush Lake Erie but when they find ways to inhabit primitive communities again.

Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter could be said to remedy anything. — Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter could be said to remedy anything.

Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.

If you can do no good, at least do no harm.

Anything can make me stop and look and wonder, and sometimes learn. — Anything can make me stop and look and wonder, and sometimes learn.

Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.

6 Kurt Vonnegut Quotes on Nature and the Environment

If people think nature is their friend, then they sure don't need an enemy. — If people think nature is their friend, then they sure don’t need an enemy.

We could have saved the Earth but we were too damned cheap.

I really wonder what gives us the right to wreck this poor planet of ours.

Dear future generations: Please accept our apologies. We were rolling drunk on petroleum.

The planet was being destroyed by manufacturing processes, and what was being manufactured was lousy, by and large.

The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest.

12 Kurt Vonnegut Quotes that will Make You Think

Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. — Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before.

New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become. — New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become.

Oh, sure, we have another world war coming, and another great depression, but where are the leaders this time? — Oh, sure, we have another world war coming, and another great depression, but where are the leaders this time?

Never trust a survivor until you know how they survived. — Never trust a survivor until you know how they survived.

If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind. — If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you’re a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind.

Being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead.

I was taught that the human brain was the crowning glory of evolution so far, but I think it's a very poor scheme for survival. — I was taught that the human brain was the crowning glory of evolution so far, but I think it’s a very poor scheme for survival.

All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is. — All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is.

The year was 2081, and everyone was finally equal.

People need good lies. There are too many bad ones.

Our awareness is all that is alive and maybe sacred in any of us. Everything else about us is dead machinery.

Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand.

2 Kurt Vonnegut Quotes on Writer

Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say — Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?

That is how you get to be a writer, incidentally: you feel somehow marginal, somehow slightly off-balance all the time.

YouTube video

(MUST READ) Slaughterhouse-Five: A Novel

Slaughterhouse-Five: A Novel — Slaughterhouse-Five: A Novel

Also read:

previous post

Top 42 John Stuart Mill Quotes (PHILOSOPHER)

next post

Top 53 Herman Melville Quotes (MOBY DICK)