Billy Pilgrim Quotes in Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)

Billy Pilgrim: [in his sleep] You guys go on without me. I'll be alright.

Prof. Rumfoord: All he does in his sleep is quit, surrender, and apologize. I could carve a better man out of a banana.

Tralfamadorian speaker: We know how the world ends and it has nothing to do with Earth, except that it gets wiped out too.

Billy Pilgrim: Really? How does it end?

Tralfamadorian speaker: While we're experimenting with new fuels, a Tralfamadorian test pilot panics, presses the wrong button, and the whole universe disappears.

Billy Pilgrim: But you have to stop him. If you know this, can't you keep the pilot from pressing ...

Tralfamadorian speaker: He has always pressed it, and he always will. We have always let him, and we always will let him. The moment is structured that way.

Billy Pilgrim: [giving speech] You see in Tralfamador, where I presently dwell, life has no beginning, no middle, and no end. For example, many years ago a certain man promised to have me killed. He's an old man now, living not far from here. He's read all of the publicity associated with my appearance. He's insane. And tonight he'll keep his promise.

[murmurs throughout the crowd]

Billy Pilgrim: If you protest, if you think that death is a terrible thing, then you've not understood what I have said.

[Lazzaro appears in balcony]

Billy Pilgrim: You see it's time for you to go home - to your lives and your children. It's time for me to be dead for a little while. And then live again. I give you the Tralfamadorian greeting: Hello. Farewell. Hello. Farewell. Eternally connected, eternally embracing. Hello. Farewell.

[Lazzaro shoots Billy]

Paul Lazzaro: He's a kraut.

Roland Weary: He don't look like one.

Billy Pilgrim: I'm not, I'm an American.

Paul Lazzaro: Prove it

[finger in Billy's face]

Roland Weary: [to Billy] Who plays third for the Tigers?

Billy Pilgrim: The Tigers?

Roland Weary: The Detroit Tigers...

Billy Pilgrim: [no answer]

Paul Lazzaro: [to Roland] Who is it?

Roland Weary: I don't know.

Paul Lazzaro: [smacks Weary] Whadya ask 'im for?

Billy Pilgrim: -typing- I have become unstuck in time.