"People took such awful chances with chemicals and their bodies because they wanted the quality of their lives to improve. They lived in ugly places where there were only ugly things to do. They didn't own doodley-squat, so they couldn't improve their surroundings. so they did their best to make their insides beautiful instead."

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.Literature See all quotes by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. →

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“You'll forget it when you're dead, and so will I. When I'm dead, I'm going to forget everything–and I advise you to do the same.”

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." (George Santayana)I've got news for Mr. Santayana: we're doomed to repeat the past no matter what. That's what it is to be alive.”

“Plato says that the unexamined life is not worth living. But what if the examined life turns out to be a clunker as well?”

“The bounties of space, of infinite outwardness, were three: empty heroics, low comedy, and pointless death.”

“Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I’ve said before, bugs in amber.”

“One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us.”

Resonant Thoughts

"The story of Eden is a fabrication, bequeathed to us by our well-meaning but dimly-lighted ancestors. There has been no more miracle in the origin of the human species than in the origin of any other …"

— J. Howard Moore

Philosophy1862–1916

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"I wanted a break. I had been on the road more or less since I was 18, you know? And I hadn't known any other life, other than, you know, hotel rooms and concerts and records and studios and press conf…"

— Cat Stevens

Music1948

#life

"Life isn’t fair." I said. "It’s taken me a while to get that. It’s always going to disappoint you in some way or another. You’ll make plans, and it’ll push you in another direction. You will love peop…"

— Alexandra Bracken

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"They call us thieves, but we did not rob and murder millions of Indians by ripping off their homeland, then call ourselves pioneers. They call us bandits, but it is not we who are robbing Africa, Asia…"

— Assata Shakur

Social Activism1947–2025

#freedom