{
  "type": "book",
  "site": {
    "name": "Leafy Quotes",
    "language": "en",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com"
  },
  "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.",
  "title": "Hocus Pocus",
  "slug": "hocus-pocus",
  "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus",
  "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus.md",
  "author": {
    "name": "Kurt Vonnegut",
    "slug": "kurt-vonnegut",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut"
  },
  "cover": "https://quivercdn.com/covers/berkley/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus_978-04-2516-129-6.jpg",
  "quotes_count": 11,
  "quotes": [
    {
      "id": "fa756235-bcf3-43f0-882f-950440e6cd2f",
      "slug": "how-embarrassing-to-be-human",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus/how-embarrassing-to-be-human",
      "text": "How embarrassing to be human.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "human nature",
          "slug": "human-nature",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature"
        },
        {
          "name": "shame",
          "slug": "shame",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/shame"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Hocus_Pocus_(1990)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:43"
    },
    {
      "id": "f97c997e-71b9-4bf3-81d1-507a791a5969",
      "slug": "just-because-some",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus/just-because-some",
      "text": "Just because some of us can read and write and do a little math, that doesn't mean we deserve to conquer the Universe.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "pride",
          "slug": "pride",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Hocus_Pocus_(1990)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:43"
    },
    {
      "id": "9cdbfe65-93ac-4936-9469-b417dcccd01f",
      "slug": "another-flaw-in-the",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus/another-flaw-in-the",
      "text": "Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "humor",
          "slug": "humor",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor"
        },
        {
          "name": "human nature",
          "slug": "human-nature",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature"
        },
        {
          "name": "work",
          "slug": "work",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Hocus_Pocus_(1990)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:43"
    },
    {
      "id": "8548969a-25db-456d-8adf-e651b18d5e58",
      "slug": "during-my-three",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus/during-my-three",
      "text": "During my three years in Vietnam, I certainly heard plenty of last words by dying American footsoldiers. Not one of them, however, had illusions that he had somehow accomplished something worthwhile in the process of making the Supreme Sacrifice.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "death",
          "slug": "death",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death"
        },
        {
          "name": "war",
          "slug": "war",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Hocus_Pocus_(1990)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:43"
    },
    {
      "id": "82872c25-4afd-41d5-8545-29c5f9e2483b",
      "slug": "i-think-william",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus/i-think-william",
      "text": "I think William Shakespeare was the wisest human being I ever heard of. To be perfectly frank, though, that's not saying much. We are impossibly conceited animals, and actually dumb as heck. Ask any teacher. You don't even have to ask a teacher. Ask anybody. Dogs and cats are smarter than we are.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "human nature",
          "slug": "human-nature",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature"
        },
        {
          "name": "stupidity",
          "slug": "stupidity",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity"
        },
        {
          "name": "pride",
          "slug": "pride",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Hocus_Pocus_(1990)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:43"
    },
    {
      "id": "7b0ef516-c9d1-4a35-b0ea-98e8d66eb826",
      "slug": "the-sermon-was",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus/the-sermon-was",
      "text": "The sermon was based on what he claimed was a well-known fact, that there were no Atheists in foxholes. I asked Jack what he thought of the sermon afterwards, and he said, \"There's a Chaplain who never visited the front.\"",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "humor",
          "slug": "humor",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor"
        },
        {
          "name": "war",
          "slug": "war",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war"
        },
        {
          "name": "religion",
          "slug": "religion",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Hocus_Pocus_(1990)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:43"
    },
    {
      "id": "714e0acc-f1db-4140-bc94-a838847c667c",
      "slug": "freedom-of-speech",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus/freedom-of-speech",
      "text": "[Freedom of speech] isn't something somebody else gives you. That's something you give to yourself.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "freedom",
          "slug": "freedom",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Hocus_Pocus_(1990)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:43"
    },
    {
      "id": "4860e483-20d3-42ae-ab9a-878232ec21e7",
      "slug": "she-was-an-alcoholic",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus/she-was-an-alcoholic",
      "text": "She was an alcoholic. I didn't blame myself for that. The worst problem in the life of any alcoholic is alcohol.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "alcohol",
          "slug": "alcohol",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/alcohol"
        },
        {
          "name": "addiction",
          "slug": "addiction",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/addiction"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Hocus_Pocus_(1990)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:43"
    },
    {
      "id": "41931598-4130-495a-994b-c375c6eaac38",
      "slug": "beer-of-course",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus/beer-of-course",
      "text": "Beer, of course, is actually a depressant. But poor people will never stop hoping otherwise.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "poverty",
          "slug": "poverty",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poverty"
        },
        {
          "name": "alcohol",
          "slug": "alcohol",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/alcohol"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Hocus_Pocus_(1990)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:43"
    },
    {
      "id": "2e6bdafc-2140-4bac-a2bd-e4afd9cbc849",
      "slug": "profanity-and-obscenity",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus/profanity-and-obscenity",
      "text": "profanity and obscenity entitle people who don't want unpleasant information to close their ears and eyes to you.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "words",
          "slug": "words",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/words"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Hocus_Pocus_(1990)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:43"
    },
    {
      "id": "151d76f6-4356-4675-8086-1c87107281df",
      "slug": "the-most-important",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus/the-most-important",
      "text": "The most important message of a crucifix, to me anyway, was how unspeakably cruel supposedly sane human beings can be when under orders from a superior authority.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "cruelty",
          "slug": "cruelty",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty"
        },
        {
          "name": "obedience",
          "slug": "obedience",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/obedience"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Hocus_Pocus_(1990)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:43"
    }
  ]
}
