Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Cat's Cradle

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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?"

"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."

"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 to 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."

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

"The Fourteenth Book is entitled, "What can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years" It doesn't take long to read The Fourteenth Book. It consists of one word and a period. This is it: "Nothing."

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

"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."

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

"No wonder kids grow up crazy. A cat's cradle is nothing but a bunch of X's between somebody's hands, and little kids look and look and look at all those X's . . ." "And" "No damn cat, and no damn cradle."

"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."

"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."

"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."