Quotes

These are just plain funny

There was a soft drink bottle on the windowsill. Its lable boasted that it contained no nourishment whatsoever.

So Billy uncorked it with his thumbs. It didn't make a pop. The champaign was dead. So it goes.

Billy coughed when the door was opened and when he coughed he shit thin grule. This was in accordance with The Third Law of motion according to Sir Isaac Newton. This law tells us that for every action there is a reaction which is equal and opposite in direction. This can be useful in rocketry.

The Americans' cloths where meanwhile passing through poison gas. Body lice and bacteria and fleas where dying by the millions. So it goes.

The passage where Billy watches the war movie in reverse is great. He just sees a bunch of miacles take place. People are revived, the bombed city is unbombed, and the planes are all fixed up.

Alian dialog that reflects Billy's depressing outlook on life

Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber? [...] Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why.

What the Englishman said about survival was this: "If you stop taking care of your appearance, you will very soon die." He said that he had see several men die in the following way: "The ceased to stand up straight, then ceased to shave or wash, then ceased to get out of bed, then ceased to talk, then died. There is much to be said for it: it is evidently a very easy and painless way to go." So it goes.

Every time Edgar Derby is mentioned Vonnegut always notes that he is doomed to die. This passage is nearing the end of the book and we already have met Edgar Derby like 5 times.

Next to Lazzaro was the poor old high school teacher, Edgar Derby, mournfully pregnant with patriotism and middle age and imaginary wisdom. And so on.

Vocabulary

Ivory, creamy white, and hard like something made out of ivory (elephant, walrus, or narwhal tusks)

Avuncular, relating to uncle, or how one addresses their sybling's kids. It comes up in the context

the officer's contempt is not, as in other armies, avuncular theatricality.