18 March 2006

If this isn't nice, I don't know what is

Brian at Five Branch Tree shares highlights of Vonnegut's “last speech for money”:
“people are in revolt against life itself.”

“As the world is ending, I’m always glad to be entertained for a few moments. The best way to do that is with music. You should practice once a night."

“If you really want to hurt your parents and don’t want to be gay, go into the arts.”

“To hell with the advances in computers,” he says after he finishes singing. “YOU are supposed to advance and become, not the computers. Find out what’s inside you. And don’t kill anybody."

“There are no factories any more. Where are the jobs supposed to come from? There’s nothing for people to do anymore. We need to ask the Seminoles: ‘what the hell did you do?’ after the tribe’s traditional livelihood was taken away."

“war is a very profitable thing for a few people. Jesus used to be so merciful and loving of the poor. But now he’s a Republican."

“Our economy today is not capitalism. It’s casino-ism. That’s all the stock market is about. Gambling."

“You meet saints every where. They can be anywhere. They are people behaving decently in an indecent society."

The greatest peace, Vonnegut wraps up, “comes from the knowledge that I have enough. Joe Heller told me that.

“I began writing because I found myself possessed. I looked at what I wrote and I said ‘How the hell did I do that?’

“We may all be possessed. I hope so.”

No comments: