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Cat's Cradle QUOTES

Cat's Cradle QUOTES

1 " Americans... are forever searching for love in forms it never takes, in places it can never be. It must have something to do with the vanished frontier. "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

2 " 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. "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

3 " You'll forget it when you're dead, and so will I. When I'm dead, I'm going to forget everything–and I advise you to do the same. "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

4 " Nothing is generous. New knowledge is a valuable commodity. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we are. "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

5 " But people didn't have to pay as much attention to the awful truth. As the living legend of the cruel tyrant in the city and the gentle holy man in the jungle grew, so, too, did the happiness of the people grow. They were all employed full time as actors in a play they understood, that any human being anywhere could understand and applaud. "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

6 " She was a fool, and so am I, and so is anyone who thinks he sees what God is Doing, [writes Bokonon]. "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

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

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

8 " I do not say that children at war do not die like men, if they have to die. To their everlasting honor and our everlasting shame, they do die like men, thus making possible the manly jubilation of patriotic holidays. But they are murdered children all the same. "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

9 " After the thing went off, after it was a sure thing that America could wipe out a city with just one bomb, a scientist turned to Father and said, 'Science has now known sin.' And do you know what Father said? He said, 'What is sin? "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

10 " I do not say that children at war do not die like men, if they have to die. To their everlasting honor and our everlasting shame they do die like men, thus making possible the manly jubilation of patriotic holidays. But they are murdered children all the same. "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

11 " People are hated a lot of places. Claire pointed out in her letter that Americans, in being hated, were simply paying the normal penalty for being people, and that they were foolish to think they should somehow be exempted from that penalty. "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

12 " Mister, when I see my first lady angel, if God ever sees fit to show me one, it’ll be her wings not her face that’ll make my mouth fall open. I’ve already seen the prettiest face that ever could be. "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

13 " She turned to examine Dr. Breed, looking at him with helpless reproach. She hated people who thought too much. At that moment, she struck me as an appropriate representative for almost all mankind. "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

14 " A winded, defeated-looking fat woman in filthy coveralls trudged beside us, hearing what Miss Pefko said. She turned to examine Dr. Breed, looking at him with helpless reproach. She hated people who thought too much. At that moment, she struck me as an appropriate representative for almost all mankind. "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

15 " The brainless serenity of charwomen and janitors working late at night came over us. In a messy world we were at least making our little corner clean. "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

16 " The mind reels. "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

17 " Jonah-John-if I had been a Sam, I would have been a Jonah still-not because I have been unlucky for others, but because somebody or something has compelled me to be certain places, at certain times, without fail. Conveyances and motives, both conventional and bizarre, have been provided. And, according to plan, at each appointed second, at each appointed place this Jonah was there. "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

18 " Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way. "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

19 " Ladies and Gentlemen, I stand before you now because I never stopped dawdling like an eight-year-old on a spring morning on his way to school. Anything can make me stop and look and wonder, and sometimes learn. I am a very happy man. Thank you. - Dr. Hoenikker's Nobel Prize acceptance speech (in its entirety); chapter 5 "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle

20 " Christ, back in Chicago, we don’t make bicycles any more. It’s all
human relations now. The eggheads sit around trying to figure out new
ways for everybody to be happy. Nobody can get fired, no matter what;
and if somebody does accidentally make a bicycle, the union accuses
us of cruel and inhuman practices and the government confiscates the
bicycle for back taxes and gives it to a blind man in Afghanistan.”
“And you think things will be better in San Lorenzo?”
“I know damn well they will be. The people down there are poor
enough and scared enough and ignorant enough to have some
common sense! "

― Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , Cat's Cradle