"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?""
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Vonnegut, as narrator, addresses his publisher Seymour ("Sam") Lawrence directly about his book (p. 19)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Slaughterhouse-Five
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Slaughterhouse-Five
42 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Slaughterhouse-Five →
Related Quotes
"So it goes."
"The smell of mustard gas and roses."
""You know what I say to people when I hear they're writing anti-war books?" "No. What do you say, Harrison Starr?" "I…"
""I think the climax of the book will be the execution of poor old Edgar Derby," I said. "The irony is so great. A who…"
"The nicest veterans in Schenectady, I thought, the kindest and funniest ones, the ones who hated war the most, were t…"
""You were just babies then!" she said. "What?" I said. "You were just babies in the war — like the ones upstairs!" I …"
"I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep. (p. 18)"
"I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres, and that the news of massacr…"
"And Lot's wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did loo…"
"This is a novel somewhat in the telegraphic schizophrenic manner of tales of the planet Tralfamadore, where the flyin…"