Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected. So it goes.
Interpretation
This quote humorously suggests considering the consequences of our actions, especially when dealing with powerful individuals.
Kurt Vonnegut's quote satirically highlights the notion of making careful choices before taking drastic actions. It underscores the importance of understanding one's relationships and the influence of social connections, implying that the repercussions of actions can vary greatly depending on the status of individuals involved. The phrase 'So it goes' reflects Vonnegut's signature acceptance of life's unpredictability and absurdity.
In practice
During a discussion on workplace politics, one might reference this quote to emphasize caution in dealing with influential colleagues.
But by accident, not by cunning calculation, books, because of their weight and texture, and because of their sweetly token resistance to manipulation, involve our hands and eyes, and then our minds and souls, in a spiritual adventure I would be very sorry for my grandchildren not to know about.
I was not an anthropology student prior to the war. I took it up as part of a personal readjustment following some bewildering experiences as an infantryman and later as a prisoner of war in Dresden, Germany. The science of the Study of Man has been extremely satisfactory from that personal standpoint.
How subservient to Jesus, or to a humane God Almighty, were the leaders of this country back in the 1840's, when Marx said such a supposedly evil thing about religion? They had made it perfectly legal to own human slaves, and weren't going to led women vote or hold public office, God forbid, for another eighty year.
All these people talk so eloquently about getting back to good old-fashioned values. Well, as an old poop I can remember back to when we had those old-fashioned values, and I say let's get back to the good old-fashioned First Amendment of the good old-fashioned Constitution of the United States - and to hell with the censors! Give me knowledge or give me death!
Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies - "God damn it, you've got to be kind."
If what Billy Pilgrim learned from the Tralfamadorians is true, that we will all live forever, no matter how dead we may sometimes seem to be, I am not overjoyed. Still--if I am going to spend eternity visiting this moment and that, I'm grateful that so many of those moments are nice.
I would tell myself that I was about to address the largest mass assembly of idiots ever gathered in the history of mankind.
I've always been drawn to discomfort and that limbo of unease you get between comedy and tragedy. Making people laugh one moment and the next making them feel really uncomfortable.
The secret to enjoying your job is to have a hobby that's even worse
You can tell how smart people are by what they laugh at.
One can never speak enough of the virtues, the dangers, the power of shared laughter.
The funny thing about our act is that dad gets the worst of it, although I'm the one who apparently receives the bruises [...] the secret is in landing limp and breaking the fall with a foot or a hand. It's a knack. I started so young that landing right is second nature with me. Several times I'd have been killed if I hadn't been able to land like a cat. Imitators of our act don't last long, because they can't stand the treatment.
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