You can't help it but you were born without a heart. At least you tried to believe what the people with hearts believed - so you were a good man just the same.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The quote suggests someone lacking empathy still tried to believe in good things, making them a good person despite flaws.
- In plain terms
- You tried to believe in good things even without feeling them, so you were good.
- What can you take from it?
- Effort to be good matters even if feelings are missing.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Can you be good without empathy?
- Does trying count?
Another view
It equates belief with goodness despite lack of genuine feeling.
More from Kurt Vonnegut
Congressman Nixon had asked me why, as the son of immigrants who had been treated so well by Americans, as a man who had been treated like a son and been sent …
Permalink to quote #121 'That was the strength of the Nazis,' she said. 'They understood God better than anyone. They knew how to make him stay away.'
Permalink to quote #123 What is flirtatiousness but an argument that life must go on and on and on?
Permalink to quote #120
Related quotes
Never find your delight in another's misfortune.
Publilius SyrusPublilius Syrus quote #26 An honest man, close-buttoned to the chin, Broadcloth without, and a warm heart within.
William CowperWilliam Cowper quote #11 A feeling heart is a blessing that no one, who has it, would be without; and it is a moral security of innocence; since the heart that is able to partake of th…
Samuel RichardsonSamuel Richardson quote #13