By 10 Kurt Vonnegut Quotes on Creativity
The early Kurt Vonnegut. Image via bookriot
Kurt Vonnegut is one of our many creative heroes. His books are masterpieces that are filled with endless nuggets of genius insights to society, culture, and environmental awareness. Consequently, compiling a list of only ten Kurt Vonnegut quotes was a challenge, but we hope that you find value in our compilation.
These Kurt Vonnegut quotes are a few of our favorites, and are listed in no particular order. Please feel free to add to this list by commenting, below.
10 Perfect Kurt Vonnegut Quotes on Creativity
1. “Nobody will stop you from creating. Do it tonight. Do it tomorrow. That is the way to make your soul grow – whether there is a market for it or not! The kick of creation is the act of creating, not anything that happens afterward. I would tell all of you watching this screen: Before you go to bed, write a four line poem. Make it as good as you can. Don’t show it to anybody. Put it where nobody will find it. And you will discover that you have your reward.”
2. “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
3. “If you want to really hurt you parents, and you don’t have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts. I’m not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”
4. “We are here on Earth to fart around. Don’t let anybody tell you any different.”
5. “Many people need desperately to receive this message: ‘I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.'”
6. “Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae.”
7. “Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, “It might have been.”
8. “We can fill our heads with anything from aardvarks to zucchinis — at any time of night or day.”
9. “Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.”
10. “We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.”
Note: In honor of Mr. Vonnegut, we’ve refrained from using any semicolons in this blog post–at the risk of being poo-pooed by his massive fanbase for using a “transvestite hermaphrodite representing absolutely nothing.” We hope you enjoyed these nearly perfect Kurt Vonnegut quotes on creativity and life.
