Maybe I did hurt him, but I don’t think I could have hurt him much. He was one of the best-protected human beings who ever lived. People couldn’t get at him because he just wasn’t interested in people.
From Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
hush-syrup reblogged
hush-syrup reblogged
In the beginning, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in His cosmic loneliness.
And God said, “Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done.” And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close as mud as man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. “What is the purpose of all this?” he asked politely.
“Everything must have a purpose?” asked God.
“Certainly,” said man.
“Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this,” said God.
And He went away.
From Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (via whatokay)
From Cat's Cradle
Man: What is the purpose of all this?
God: Everything must have a purpose?
Man: Certainly.
God: Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this.
Perhaps, when we remember wars, we should take off our clothes and paint ourselves blue and go on all fours all day long and grunt like pigs. That would surely be more appropriate than noble oratory and shows of flags and well-oiled guns.
From Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
I wanted all things
To seem to make some sense,
So we all could be happy, yes,
Instead of tense.
And I made up lies
So that they all fit nice,
And I made this sad world
A par-a-dise.
From Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
I looked up Fata Morgana at this point in my reading; learned that it was, in fact, a mirage named after Morgan le Fay, a fairy who lived at the bottom of a lake. It was famous for appearing in the Strait of Messina, between Calabria and Sicily. Fata Morgana was poetic crap, in short.
From Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
When most people talk about knowing somebody a lot or a little, they're talking about secrets they've been told or haven't been told. They're talking about intimate things, family things, love things.
From Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Oh, a very sorry people, yes,
Did I find here.
Oh, they had no music,
And they had no beer.
From Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Anyone unable to understand how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either.
From Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
From Cat's Cradle
Dr. Asa Breed: I'm sick of people misunderstanding what a scientist is, what a scientist does.
Narrator: I'll do my best to clear up the misunderstanding.
Dr. Asa Breed: In this country most people don't even understand what pure research is.
Narrator: I'd appreciate it if you'd tell me what it is.
Dr. Asa Breed: It isn't looking for a better cigarette filter or a softer face tissue or a longer-lasting house paint, God help us. Everybody talks about research and practically nobody in this country's doing it...when...companies brag about their research, they're talking about industrial hack technicians who wear white coats, work out of cookbooks, and dream up an improved windshield wiper for next year's Oldsmobile.
Oh,
a sleeping drunkard
Up in Central Park,
And a lion-hunter
In the jungle dark,
And a Chinese dentist,
And a British queen -
All fit together
In the same machine.
Nice, nice, very nice;
Nice, nice, very nice;
Nice, nice, very nice -
So many different people
In the same device.
From Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut