And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep.
He is in a constant state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows what part of his life he is going to have to act in next
Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I’ve said before, bugs in amber.
That's one thing Earthlings might learn to do, if they tried hard enough: Ignore the awful times and concentrate on the good ones.
All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist.
She was a dull person, but a sensational invitation to make babies.
Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue, the monograph went on. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact how hard money is to come by, and, there, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves.
It is just an illusion here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone, it is gone forever.
If I hadn’t spent so much time studying Earthlings," said the Tralfamadorian, "I wouldn’t have any idea what was meant by 'free will. ' I've visited thirty-one inhabited planets in the universe, and I have studied reports on one hundred more. Only on Earth is there any talk of free will.
Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.
- Why me? - That is a very Earthling question to ask, Mr. Pilgrim. Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is. Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber? - Yes. - Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why.
Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is.
I am a Tralfamadorian, seeing all time as you might see a stretch of the Rocky Mountains. All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is.
It is so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like "Poo-tee-weet?
Ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones.
There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time.
It was very exciting for her, taking his dignity away in the name of love.
Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected. So it goes.
. . . when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist.
I have this disease late at night sometimes, involving alcohol and the telephone.