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About this quote

What does it mean?
A humorous take on death, using casual farewells and a religious figure's joke to lessen the fear.
In plain terms
Death is just a temporary leave, not a permanent end.
What can you take from it?
Treat death lightly to reduce fear.

Where it applies

  • funerals
  • discussions on dying

Putting it to work

  • copings loss
  • discuss mortality

Questions to consider

  • Can humor help us accept death?
  • Is the afterlife a comforting idea?

Another view

It assumes belief in an afterlife or paradise.

More from Kurt Vonnegut

  1. What do men want? They want a lot of pals, and they wish that people wouldn't get so mad at them.

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  2. I asked this heroic pet lover how it felt to have died for a schnauzer named Teddy. Salvador Biagiani was philosophical. He said it sure beat dying for absolut…

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  3. Freud said he didn't know what women wanted. I know what women want. They want a whole lot of people to talk to.

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