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About this quote

What does it mean?
A fictional epitaph blames human cheapness for failing to save the planet.
In plain terms
We failed the planet because we were too cheap to act.
What can you take from it?
Stinginess can doom collective survival.

Where it applies

  • policy debates
  • climate discussions
  • future projections

Putting it to work

  • invest in long-term survival
  • question short-term savings
  • act on climate

Questions to consider

  • What costs society avoids?
  • Are we saving enough?

Another view

It simplifies complex systemic issues into one flaw.

More from Kurt Vonnegut

  1. [Freedom of speech] isn't something somebody else gives you. That's something you give to yourself.

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  2. Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.

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  3. I asked Rob Roy where he had gone to college. 'Yale,' he said. I told him what Helen Dole said about Yale, that it ought to be called 'Plantation Owners' Tech.…

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