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When I was a naive young recruit in Spain, I used to wonder why soldiers bayoneted oil paintings, shot the noses off statues and defecated into grand pianos. I now understand: it was to teach civilians the deepest sort of respect for men in uniform — uncontrollable fear.

— Kurt Vonnegut Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1970)

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More quotes by Kurt Vonnegut

Maybe God has let everybody who ever lived be reborn — so he or she can see how it ends.

Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1970)

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.

Mother Night (1962)

Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile.

Mother Night (1962)

Belief is nearly the whole of the Universe, whether based on truth or not.

Bluebeard (1987)

I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.

Player Piano (1952)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Kurt Vonnegut (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.