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.

Take it from somebody who has been around for a million years: When you get right down to it, food is practically the whole story every time.

I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.

If I wrote something that hadn't really happened, and I tried to sell it, I could go to jail. That's fraud!

They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.

God damn it, you've got to be kind.

Only in books do we learn what’s really going on.