Vonnegut

Today Rudy and I got on the topic of Kurt Vonnegut (may he rest in peace).  We both agreed that he is one amazing writer, in addition to the fact that he makes great social and political observations.  I can't say he's my favorite writer since I've only read Cat's Cradle, but he is on the top of my list of authors for which I'd like to read every single work they've authored.  

Since I've been really busy at work lately and I'm planning on leaving for South Korea on Saturday, I just want to leave you with some of my favorite quotes from Vonnegut.  I will take lots of pictures in Korea and post them when I get back!  Sorry to go M.I.A. for a while but perhaps I will be able to post once more between now and when I leave.  

And here are some of my favorites (most I pulled from Wikiquotes):

"When the last living thing

has died on account of us,

how poetical it would be

if Earth could say,

in a voice floating up

perhaps 

from the floor 

of the Grand Canyon,

'It is done.'

People did not like it here."

— A Man Without a Country

"Hello, babies.  Welcome to Earth.  It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter.  It's round and wet and crowded.  At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here.  There's only one rule that I know of, babies — 'God damn it, you've got to be kind.'"

—God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

"Doesn't anything socialistic make you want to throw up?  Like great public schools, or health insurance for all?"

—A Man Without a Country

"I have wanted to give Iraq a lesson in democracy — because we're experienced with it, you know.  And, in democracy, after a hundred years, you have to let your slaves go.  And, after a hundred and fifty years, you have to let your women vote.  And, at the beginning of democracy, is that quite a bit of genocide and ethnic cleansing is quite okay.  And that's what's going on now."

—Interview on The Daily Show

"If you want to really hurt your parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least  you can do is go into the arts.  I'm not kidding.  The arts are not a way to make a living.  They are a very human way of making life more bearable.  Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake.  Sing in the shower.  Dance to the radio.  Tell stories.  Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem.  Do it as well as you possibly can.  You will get an enormous reward.  You will have created something." 

—A Man Without a Country

I hope to create something for the world someday.  Although I don't sing in the shower, I do sing ridiculously loud to the radio in my car.  Too bad I haven't been able to drive since I've been in Taiwan.

Adios lovers, until next time.