God bless you, Mr Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was my hero.

In so many ways, I've wanted to be like him.

When I first read Cat's cradle, and then Slaughterhouse V shortly after, I felt a connection that I had never felt before to a novel. His narrators are so weary of the world and the motions we go through every day that we call life, and yet they care so much. They can't help but care. It was like as if the writer of these books were me, only infinitely more eloquent.

Vonnegut was funny, witty and had an Oscar Wilde-like knack of being quotable, but most importantly, he was so human. So insightful. Through his manic blend of satire, science fiction and many other genres, he showed an understanding of the human condition that few writers (if any) could match.

His books were never really mainstream. They are maybe a little too 'out-there' for that. He was more a cult figure. But his followers are many and rabid. And I count myself as one. Without hesitation, I would say that he is the most profound writer that I have ever read. Nobody even comes close. He just seems to speak my language and I understand. And he does it all while making me laugh too.

I've always encouraged people to read his books. Once I even gave one away on this very blog. I own a few and will be willing to lend out. Just ask. They're books to pass around. And then talk about afterwards. Easy reads. Often with pictures.

But for now, I'll let the man speak for himself. Here are some of my favourite quotes of his taken from various sources and put down here as if to raise him to the status of prophet or deity.

I think he would have found that amusing.

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

Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before... He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.

Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand.

Charm was a scheme for making strangers like and trust a person immediately, no matter what the charmer had in mind.

Artists use frauds to make human beings seem more wonderful than they really are. Dancers show us human beings who move much more gracefully than human beings really move. Films and books and plays show us people talking much more entertainingly than people really talk, make paltry human enterprises seem important. Singers and musicians show us human beings making sounds far more lovely than human beings really make. Architects give us temples in which something marvelous is obviously going on. Actually, practically nothing is going on.

Listen: we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different.

People have to talk about something just to keep their voice boxes in working order so they'll have good voice boxes in case there's ever anything really meaningful to say.

True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.

Roses are red
And ready for plucking
You're sixteen
And ready for high school.

All persons, living and dead, are purely coincidental.

If you really want to hurt your parents, and you don’t have nerve enough to be a homosexual, the least you can do is go into the arts.

You realize, of course, that everything I say is horseshit.

On 11 April 2007, Kurt Vonnegut lived to the age of 84 and then brain injuries got to him and he died.

So it goes.