Today was one of those depressing cold wet days in which Winter eats Spring and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. dies.
I was a voracious Vonnegut fan in my teens and twenties. I loved how he chose his words so carefully and ended up with brilliant skinny books full of succint and cynical wit. Breakfast of Champions was my favourite: the illustrations still crack me up.
Vonnegut was a contemporary philosopher of few – but precisely chosen – words. Despite his cynicism, he was a passionate man. He cared about the planet, and about the future of humanity. He was not optimistic, but he still cared enough to hope.
Here are a few Vonnegut quotes:
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.”
“Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand.”
“Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops.”
“Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.”
“We could have saved the Earth but we were too damned cheap.”
That last one is a kicker, eh?
So it goes.
Robin, I actually considered concluding that post with ‘so it goes.’