Important Quotations Explained
1. 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?”
2. Billy
had a framed prayer on his office wall which expressed his method
for keeping going, even though he was unenthusiastic about living.
A lot of patients who saw the prayer on Billy's wall told him that
it helped them to keep going, too. It went like this: “God grant
me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to
change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference.” Among
the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present,
and the future.
3. Billy
answered. There was a drunk on the other end. Billy could almost
smell his breath—mustard gas and roses. It was a wrong number. Billy
hung up.
4. “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.”
5. There
isn't any particular relationship between the messages, except that
the author has chosen them carefully, so that, when seen all at
once, they produce an image of life that is beautiful and surprising
and deep. 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.
