Kurt Vonnegut

I've always been an optimist, even when things were bad.

The world is full of people who are trying to make a living, and they're all doing it in different ways.

The only way to be happy is to be yourself.

I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles.'

The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don't acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.

I've had a hell of a good time. I've had a hell of a good time. I recommend it to everybody. I don't think I'll do it again, but I can recommend it.

I think I am trying to make my head into a kind of lighthouse for other people. I'm trying to make a light shine on things I think are true.

I'm simply interested in what's going to happen next. I don't think I can control it, and I don't think anybody else can either.

I myself feel that our country, for whose Constitution I fought in a just war, might as well have been invaded by Martians and body snatchers. Sometimes I wish it had been. What has happened instead is that it was taken over by means of the sleaziest, low-comedy, Keystone Cops-style coup d'état imaginable.

I think that the human race is going to wreck itself, and it is important that you get rid of all the things that you really don't need and that you learn to appreciate the things that you have.

The only difference between Hitler and Bush is that Hitler was elected.

I'm a sore loser. I think everybody should be. I think we should all be terrible losers and get mad and demand a recount.

I want to be a character in all of my books. I want to be a character in all of my books. I want to be a character in all of my books.

You can't fight for your life and win, and then expect to go back to normal.

Progress is the only fit for a man. Without progress, he's a dead man.

The best advice I ever got was, 'Don't be afraid to be yourself.'

I've got to be honest with you, I hate to preach, but I'm going to.

The only way to be happy is to not think about happiness.

I believe that the most important thing a person can do is to be a good human being.

You'll find that the more you give, the more you get.