264 quotes
Anita had the mechanics of marriage down pat, even to the subtlest conventions. If her approach was disturbingly rational, systematic, she was thorough enough to turn out a credible counterfeit of warmth.
Player Piano (1952)
Our awareness is all that is alive and maybe sacred in any of us. Everything else about us is dead machinery.
Breakfast of Champions (1973)
What do I myself think of this particular book? I feel lousy about it, but I always feel lousy about my books.
Breakfast of Champions (1973)
Science fiction is like other writing. It is just novels and short stories with machines.
If you are going to be a writer, you must be paranoid. The thing is, in the arts if you don't overreact, you fall asleep.
Son—they say there isn't any royalty in this country, but do you want me to tell you how to be king of the United States of America? Just fall through the hole in a privy and come out smelling like a rose.
The Sirens of Titan (1959)
There is a riddle about a man who is locked in a room with nothing but a bed and a calendar, and the question is: How does he survive?
The answer is: He eats dates from the calendar and drinks water from the springs of the bed.
The Sirens of Titan (1959)
"As far as I'm concerned," said Constant, "the Universe is a junk yard, with everything in it overpriced. I am through poking around in the junk heaps, looking for bargains. Every so-called bargain," said Constant, "has been connected by fine wires to a dynamite bouquet."
The Sirens of Titan (1959)
His plan? To pass out weapons to slaves, so they could overthrow their masters. Suicide.
God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (1999)
You understand, of course, that everything I say is horseshit.
Playboy interview (1973)
Peculiar Travel Suggestions are Dancing Lessons From God.
Cat's Cradle (1963)
When you're dead you're dead.
Mother Night (1962)
Derby described the incredible artificial weather that Earthlings sometimes create for other Earthlings when they don't want those other Earthlings to inhabit Earth any more.
Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)
So when my own time comes to join the choir invisible or whatever, God forbid, I hope someone will say, "He's up in Heaven now." Who really knows? I could have dreamed all this.
God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (1999)
Is it possible that seemingly incredible geniuses like Bach and Shakespeare and Einstein were not in fact superhuman, but simply plagiarists, copying great stuff from the future?
A Man Without a Country (2005)
Be kind. Don't kill for any reason. Don't even kill out of self-defense. Really — I mean that. Don't take any more than you need of anything. Help others.
I think it can be tremendously refreshing if a creator of literature has something on his mind other than the history of literature so far. Literature should not disappear up its own asshole, so to speak.
Palm Sunday (1981)
"You finally fell in love, I see," said Salo.
"Only an Earthling year ago," said Constant. "It took us that long to realize that a purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.
The Sirens of Titan (1959)
Mankind, ignorant of the truths that lie withing every human being, looked outward—pushed ever outward. What mankind hoped to learn in its outward push was who was actually in charge of all creation, and what all creation was all about.
The Sirens of Titan (1959)
"Why are you quitting?"
"Sick of my job."
"Because what you were doing was morally bad?" suggested the voice.
"Because it wasn't getting anybody anywhere. Because it was getting everybody nowhere."
"Because it was evil?" insisted the voice.
"Because it was pointless."
Player Piano (1952)