Kurt Vonnegut Quotes

The two basic topics which fascinate me are 'What is reality?' and 'What constitutes the authentic human being?'

Being is. Being is in-itself. Being is what it is.

The ultimate question of who we are is set before us at all times and answered with every action.

I secretly think reality exists so we can speculate about it.

Philosophy, most broadly viewed, is the critical survey of existence from the standpoint of value.

First, philosophy concerns itself with all kinds of issues that don't get much airtime in day-to-day life. What's the nature of reality? Can we ever truly know anything, and if so, how? What does it mean to be a moral agent? And while we're at it, is there any such thing as agency anyway?

The greatest mystery of existence is existence itself.

I stick my finger into existence.. it smells of nothing. Where am I? Who am I? What is this thing called the world? What does this word mean?

I am all that there is of the most real.

I desire therefore I exist.

I am me, whatever that means. I am conscious.

"To be is to do," says the existentialist. "One only becomes real (human) at the point of action."

It is in your act that you exist, not in your body. Your act is yourself, and there is no other you.

There is no frontier between being and appearing.

I move, therefore I am.

We have the notion that we exist but we have no way to prove it. 'I am' is the closest foundation we can get.

Language is the house of the truth of Being.

Man is not the lord of beings. Man is the shepherd of Being.

Recognition of function always precedes recognition of being.

Ethical and questions of philosophy interest me a great deal.

Transcendence constitutes selfhood.

Existence precedes and rules essence.

Like Leibniz's possible worlds, most men are only equally entitled pretenders to existence. There are few existences.

The German language speaks Being, while all the others merely speak of Being.

'Hamlet' is one of the most dangerous things ever set down on paper. All the big, unknowable questions like what it is to be a human being; the difference between sanity and insanity; the meaning of life and death; what's real and not real. All these subjects can literally drive you mad.