Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse-Five

Modern influential 116 sayings

Sayings by Kurt Vonnegut

I don't know what it is about you, but you make me want to be a better man.

1963 — Book: Cat's Cradle
Humorous Unverifiable

The universe is a big place, and we're all just tiny specks in it. So what's the point of worrying about anything?

1963 — Book: Cat's Cradle
Humorous Unverifiable

I am a man who has been to the top of the world and back, and I can tell you, it's not all it's cracked up to be.

1963 — Book: Cat's Cradle
Humorous Unverifiable

The only way to get through life is to laugh at it.

1963 — Book: Cat's Cradle
Humorous Unverifiable

I have a theory that the only way to get rid of a bad habit is to replace it with a good one.

1963 — Book: Cat's Cradle
Humorous Unverifiable

Paranoia is just total awareness.

1963 — Book: Cat's Cradle
Humorous Unverifiable

I was never a big fan of the '60s. I was always a little bit ahead of them.

1997 — Interview
Humorous Unverifiable

I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.

Unknown — Attributed, variation of a known quote
Humorous Unverifiable

Anything worth doing is worth doing right.

Unknown — Common saying, often attributed to him
Humorous Unverifiable

To understand the man, you have to understand what he wanted. And what he wanted was always the same: to be a writer.

1963 — Book: Cat's Cradle
Humorous Unverifiable

I have a lot of friends who are cops, and a lot of friends who are criminals. I just try to keep them separated.

1997 — Interview
Humorous Unverifiable

The only way to write honestly is to be honest about yourself.

1963 — Book: Cat's Cradle
Humorous Unverifiable

There are no innocent bystanders. Only innocent victims.

1963 — Book: Cat's Cradle
Humorous Unverifiable

Sanity is a cozy lie.

1963 — Book: Cat's Cradle
Humorous Unverifiable

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

1991 — Essay on environmentalism
Controversial Unverifiable

The excrement hit the air-conditioning.

1976 — Describing disaster in 'Slapstick'
Controversial Unverifiable