Kurt Vonnegut Quotes

Man is the yokel par excellence, the booby unmatchable, the king dupe of the cosmos. He is chronically and unescapably deceived, not only by the other animals and by the delusive face of nature herself--by his incomparable talent for searching out and embracing what is false, and for overlooking and denying what is true.

Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about. And since we know least about ourselves, we are ready to believe all that is said about us. Hence the mysterious power of both flattery and calumny.

Credulity without enquiry is a sure way to deceive oneself.

The Wizard's First Rule: People are stupid; given proper motivation almost anyone will believe almost anything.

There isn't anything so grotesque or so incredible that the average human being can't believe it.

The sad truth about humanity...is that people believe what they're told. Maybe not the first time, but by the hundredth time, the craziest of ideas just becomes a given.

We find it easy to believe that praise is sincere: why should anyone lie in telling us the truth?

What is it men cannot be made to believe!

A flatterer never seems absurd: The flatter'd always takes his word.

men are so conceited they’ll believe anything that flatters them

If you believe that you will believe anything.

The people who lie the most are nearly always the clumsiest at it, and they're easier to fool with lies than most people, too. You'd think they'd be on the look-out for lies, but they seem to be the very ones that will believe almost anything at all.

People are stupid... They will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they're afraid it might be true.

Whoever believes in a man is very foolish.

Just believe everything I tell you, and it will all be very, very simple.' Ah, well, I'm not sure I believe that.

Oh mortal man, is there anything you cannot be made to believe?. Of all the means I know to lead men, the most effectual is a concealed mystery.The hankering of the mind is irresistible.

The man who believes in giraffes would swallow anything.

You don't want to believe everything you hear.

A lie took two parties - the weaver of the tale and the sucker who so badly wanted to believe it.

You simply cannot invent any conspiracy theory so ridiculous and obviously satirical that some people somewhere don't already believe it.

Flattery makes fools of the best of us.

She wants to believe my excuses so bad. Every time I lie, she wants to believe me so much.

We sometimes imagine we hate flattery, but we only hate the way we are flattered.

It is human nature to want to believe in the wizardry of the magician--but also to turn against him and to scorn him the moment that he commits the slightest error that reveals his trickery. Those in the audience are embarrassed to have been so easily astonished, and they blame the performer for their gullibility.

Most people have ears, but few have judgment; tickle those ears, and depend upon it, you will catch their judgments, such as they are.