Bokonon Quotes

As Bokonon says: 'peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from god.

All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies.

She was a fool, and so am I, and so is anyone who thinks he sees what God is Doing, [writes Bokonon].

The words were a paraphrase of the suggestion of Jesus: "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's." Bokonon's paraphrase was this: "Pay no attention to Caesar. Caesar doesn't have the slightest idea what's really going on.

Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before," Bokonon tells us. "He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.

They were lovebirds. They entertained each other endlessly with little gifts: sights worth seeing out the plane window, amusing or instructive bits from things they read, random recollections of times gone by. They were, I think, a flawless example of what Bokonon calls a duprass, which is a karass composed of only two persons.

Maturity,” Bokonon tells us, “is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything.

And I remembered The Fourteenth Book of Bokonon, which I had read in its entirety the night before. The Fourteenth Book is entitled, "What Can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?" It doesn't take long to read The Fourteenth Book. It consists of one word and a period. This is it: "Nothing.

Truth was the enemy of the people, because the truth was so terrible, so Bokonon made it his business to provide the people with better and better lies.

The driver asked me if I would mind another brief detour, this time to a tombstone salesroom across the street from the cemetery. I wasn't a Bokononist then, so I agreed with some peevishness. As a Bokononist, of course, I would have agreed gaily to go anywhere anyone suggested. As Bokonon says: 'Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.

History!” writes Bokonon. “Read it and weep!

Write it all down,” Bokonon tells us.

Someday, someday, this crazy world will have to end, And our God will take things back that He to us did lend. And if, on that sad day, you want to scold our God, Why just go ahead and scold Him. He'll just smile and nod.

And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close as mud as man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. “What is the purpose of all this?” he asked politely. “Everything must have a purpose?” asked God. “Certainly,” said man. “Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this,” said God. And He went away.

If I am ever put to death on the hook, expect a very human performance.

Oh, a very sorry people, yes, Did I find here. Oh, they had no music, And they had no beer. And, oh, everywhere Where they tried to perch Belonged to Castle Sugar, Incorporated, Or the Catholic church.

Maturity,” Bokonon tells us, “is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything.

Well, when it became evident that no governmental or economic reform was going to make the people much less miserable, the religion became the one real instrument of hope. Truth was the enemy of the people, because the truth was so terrible, so Bokonon made it his business to provide the people with better and better lies.

Live by the foma(Harmless untruths) that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.

And I remembered The Fourteenth Book of Bokonon, which I had read in its entirety the night before. The Fourteenth Book is entitled, “What Can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?” It doesn’t take long to read The Fourteenth Book. It consists of one word and a period. This is it: “Nothing.

Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before,” Bokonon tells us. “He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.

Maturity, Bokonon tells us, is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists

Come ci dice Bokonon: "Non si sbaglia mai dicendo addio".

La maturità," ci dice Bokonon, "è un'amara delusione per la quale non esiste rimedio, a meno che la risata non possa essere considerata un rimedio a qualcosa.

SOMETIMES THE POOL-PAH,” Bokonon tells us, “exceeds the power of humans to comment.” Bokonon translates pool-pah at one point in The Books of Bokonon as “shit storm” and at another point as “wrath of God.

Hazel’s obsession with Hoosiers around the world was a textbook example of a false karass, of a seeming team that was meaningless in terms of the ways God gets things done, a textbook example of what Bokonon calls a granfalloon. Other examples of granfalloons are the Communist party, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the General Electric Company, the International Order of Odd Fellows—and any nation, anytime, anywhere.

Oh, a sleeping drunkard Up in Central Park, And a lion-hunter In the jungle dark, And a Chinese dentist, And a British queen-- All fit together In the same machine. Nice, nice, very nice; Nice, nice, very nice; Nice, nice, very nice-- So many different people In the same device.

The words were a paraphrase of the suggestion by Jesus: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s.” Bokonon’s paraphrase was this: “Pay no attention to Caesar. Caesar doesn’t have the slightest idea what’s really going on.

Trzymajcie się z dala od człowieka, który pracował w pocie czoła nad rozwiązaniem jakiejś zagadki, rozwiązał ją i stwierdził, że nie jest mądrzejszy niż przedtem - powiada Bokonon. - Przepełnia go bowiem mordercza pogarda do ludzi, którzy są równie głupi jak on, ale nie doszli do swojej głupoty równie ciężką pracą.

Live by the foma1 that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.” The Books of Bokonon. I: 5

As Bokonon says: “Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.

I agree that all religions, including Bokononism, are nothing but lies.

I thought this was trash. Of course it’s trash! says Bokonon.

If you find your life tangled up with somebody else’s life for no very logical reasons,” writes Bokonon, “that person may be a member of your karass.” At another

In Bokonon, it is written that “peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.

There was a quotation from The Books of Bokonon on the page before me. Those words leapt from the page and into my mind, and they were welcomed there. The words were a paraphrase of the suggestion by Jesus: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s.” Bokonon’s paraphrase was this: “Pay no attention to Caesar. Caesar doesn’t have the slightest idea what’s really going on.

Hazel obsession with Hoosiers around the world was a textbook example of a false karass, of a seeming team that was meaningless in terms of the ways God gets things done, a textbook example of what Bokonon calls a granfalloon. Other examples are the Communist party, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the General Electric Company, the International Order of Odd Fellows - and any nation, anytime, anywhere.

Ah, God, what an ugly city Ilium is! 'Ah, God,' says Bokonon, 'what an ugly city every city is!' Sleet was falling through a motionless blanket of smog. It was early morning. I was riding in the Lincoln sedan of Dr. Asa Breed. I was vaguely ill, still a little drunk from the night before. Dr. Breed was driving. Tracks of a long-abandoned trolley system kept catching the wheels of his car. Breed was a pink old man, very prosperous, beautifully dressed. His manner was civilized, optimistic, capable. I, by contrast, felt bristly, diseased, cynical. I had spent the night with Sandra. My soul seemed as foul as smoke from burning cat fur.

And I remembered The Fourteenth Book of Bokonon? which I had read in its entirety the night before. The Fourteenth Book is entitled, “What Can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?” It doesn’t take long to read The Fourteenth Book. It consists of one word and a period. This is it: “Nothing.

Busy, busy, busy.

I do not intend that this book be a tract on behalf of Bokononism. I should like to offer a Bokononist warning about it, however. The first sentence in The Books of Bokonon is this: “All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies.” My Bokononist warning is this: Anyone unable to understand how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either. So be it. ***

I once knew an Episcopalian lady in Newport, Rhode Island, who asked me to design and build a doghouse for her Great Dane. The lady claimed to understand God and His Ways of Working perfectly. She could not understand why anyone should be puzzled about what had been or about what was going to be. And yet, when I showed her a blueprint of the doghouse I proposed to build, she said to me, “I’m sorry, but I never could read one of those things.” “Give it to your husband or your minister to pass on to God,” I said, “and, when God finds a minute, I’m sure he’ll explain this doghouse of mine in a way that even you can understand.” She fired me. I shall never forget her. She believed that God liked people in sailboats much better than He liked people in motorboats. She could not bear to look at a worm. When she saw a worm, she screamed. She was a fool, and so am I, and so is anyone who thinks he sees what God is Doing, [writes Bokonon].

Hazelina opsjednutost Hoosierima diljem svijeta klasičan je primjer lažnog karassa, prividne ekipe što nema nikakve veze s onime što i kako Bog radi, klasičan primjer onoga što Bokonon zove granfalloon. Drugi primjeri granfalloona su Komunistička partija, Kćeri američke revolucije, General Electric Company, International Order of Odd Fellows – bilo koja nacija, bilo kada, bilo gdje. Kako nas Bokonon poziva da pjevamo s njim: „Ako želiš znati što je granfalloon Samo zaviri u napuhani balon

It was time to take the best bits from them all and build something delicious: the spirituality of the Hindus, the community spirit and family ties of the Muslims, the ancient wisdom of the Chinese, the love of freedom and equality of the Afro-Caribbeans, the work ethic of the Jews, the bloody-mindedness and wry humour of the Australians, the blarney of the Irish, the passion of the Scots, the unorthodoxy of the Welsh, combined with our own English love of justice, fair play and democracy. Put them all together and you had a vision for the future, a direction, which Bokononism could exploit.

He took no note of our arrival. In one hand was a pencil. In the other was paper. 'Bokonon?' 'Yes?' 'May I ask what you're thinking?' 'I am thinking, you man, about the final sentence for The Books of Bokonon. The time for the final sentence has come.' 'Any luck?' He shrugged and handed me a piece of paper. This is what I read: If I were a younger man, I would write a history of human stupidity; and I would climb to the top of Mount McCabe and lie down on my back with my history for a pillow; and I would take from the ground some of the blue-white poison that makes statues of men; and I would make a statue of myself, lying on my back, grinning horribly, and thumbing my nose at You Know Who.

Cind a devenit limpede ca nici o reforma administrativa sau economica nu poate schimba starea mizera a populatiei, religia a devenit singurul instrument al sperantei. Fiind atit de ingrozitor, adevarul a devenit dusmanul oamenilor, asa ca Bokonon si-a asumat raspunderea de a-i oferi populatiei minciuni din ce in ce mai abile.

And what opinion did Bokonon hold of his own cosmogony? “Foma! Lies!” he wrote. “A pack of foma!

Bokononism.

I do not intend that this book be a tract on behalf of Bokononism. I should like to offer a Bokononist warning about it, however. The first sentence in The Books of Bokonon is this: “All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies.” My Bokononist warning is this: Anyone unable to understand how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either. So be it.

There was another message, written in lipstick in a feminine hand on the wallpaper over my bed. It said: “No, no, no, said Chicken-licken.” There was a sign hung around my dead cat’s neck. It said, “Meow.” I have not seen Krebbs since. Nonetheless, I sense that he was my Karass. If he was, he served it as a wrang-wrang. A wrang-wrang, according to Bokonon, is a person who steers people away from a line of speculation by reducing that line, with the example of the wrang-wrang’s own life, to an absurdity.

Whenever I meet a young Hoosier, I tell them, ‘You call me Mom.’” “Uh huh.” “Let me hear you say it,” she urged. “Mom?” She smiled and let go of my arm. Some piece of clockwork had completed its cycle. My calling Hazel “Mom” had shut it off, and now Hazel was rewinding it for the next Hoosier to come along. Hazel’s obsession with Hoosiers around the world was a textbook example of a false karass, of a seeming team that was meaningless in terms of the ways God gets things done, a textbook example of what Bokonon calls a granfalloon. Other examples of granfalloons are the Communist party, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the General Electric Company, the International Order of Odd Fellows—and any nation, anytime, anywhere.

I walked away from Frank, just as The Books of Bokonon advised me to do. “Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before,” Bokonon tells us. “He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.

IF YOU FIND YOUR LIFE tangled up with somebody else’s life for no very logical reasons,” writes Bokonon, “that person may be a member of your karass.” At

Dead—almost all dead now. As Bokonon tells us, “It is never a mistake to say good-bye.

agree with one Bokononist idea. I agree that all religions, including Bokononism, are nothing but lies.

Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before,” Bokonon tells us. “He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.” I

The first sentence in The Books of Bokonon is this: 'All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies.' My bokonist warning is this: Anyone unable to understand how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either. So be it.

The words were a paraphrase of the suggestion by Jesus: 'Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's.' Bokonon's paraphrase was this: 'Pay no attention to Caesar. Caesar doesn't have the slightest idea what's really going on.

It was the belief of Bokonon that good societies could be built only by pitting good against evil, and by keeping the tension between the two high at all times. And, in Castle's book, I read my first Bokononist poem, or 'Calypso' It went like this: 'Papa' Monzano, he's so very bad, But without bad 'Papa' I would be so sad; Because without 'Papa's' badness, Tell me, if you would, How could wicked old Bokonon Ever, ever look good?

But what interested me were some of the words Bokonon had chosen to put into the blanks in 1929. Wherever possible, he had taken the cosmic view, had taken into consideration, for instance, such things as the shortness of life and the longness of eternity. He reported his avocation as: 'Being alive.' He reported his principal occupation as: 'Being dead.

Well, when it became evident that no governmental or economic reform was going to make the people much less miserable, the religion became the one real instrument of hope. Truth was the enemy of the people, because the truth was so terrible, so Bokonon made it his business to provide the people with better and better lies.' 'How did he come to be an outlaw?' 'It was his own idea. He asked McCable to outlaw him and his religion, too, in order to give the religious life of the people more zest, more tang. He wrote a little poem about it, incidentally.' Castle quoted this poem, which does not appear in The Books of Bokonon: So I said good-bye to government, And I gave my reason: That a really good religion Is a form of treason. 'Bokonon suggested the hook, too, as the proper punishment for Bokononists,' he said.

McCabe and Bokonon did not succeed in raising what was generally thoughts of as the standard of living,' said Castle. 'The truth was that life was as short and brutish and mean as ever. 'But people didn't have to pay as much attention to the awful truth. As the living legend of the cruel tyrant in the city and the gentle holy man in the jungle grew, so, too, did the happiness of the people grow. They were all employed full time as actors in a play they understood, that any human being anywhere could understand and applaud.

He faced the sheet of water that curtained the cave. 'Maturity, the way I understand it,' he told me, 'is knowing what your limitations are.' He wasn't far from Bokonon in defining maturity. 'Maturity,' Bokonon tells us, 'is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything.

Are you a Bokononist?' I asked him. 'I agree with one Bokononist idea. I agree that all religions, including Bokononism, are nothing but lies.' 'Will this bother you as a scientist, 'I inquired, 'to go through a ritual like this?' 'I am a very bad scientist. I will do anything to make a human being feel better, even if it's unscientific. No scientist worthy of the name could say such a thing.

Bokonon tells us: A lover's a liar, To himself he lies. The truthful are loveless, Like oysters their eyes!

Frank Hoenikker was with them, explaining who Bokonon was and what he was against. 'He's against science.' 'How can anybody in his right mind be against science?' asked Crosby.

What hope can there be for mankind,' I thought, 'when there are such men as Felix Hoenikker to give such playthings as ice-nine to such short-sighted children as almost all men and women are? And I remembered The Fourteenth Book of Bokonon, which I had read in its entirety the night before. The Fourteenth Book is entitled, 'What Can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years? It doesn't take long to read The Fourteenth Book. It consists of one word and a period. This is it: 'Nothing.

But, as Bokonon tells us, 'Any man can call time out, but no man can say how long the time out will be.

I walked away from Frank, just as The Books of Bokonon advised me to do. 'Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before,' Bokonon tells us. 'He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.

Such a depressing religion!' I cried. I directed our conversation into the area of Utopias, of what might have been, of what should have been, of what might yet be, if the world would thaw. But Bokonon had been there, too, had written a whole book about Utopias, The Seventh Book, which he called 'Bokonon's Republic.' In that book are there ghastly aphorisms: The hand that stocks the drug stores rules the world. Let us start our Republic with a chain of drug stores, a chain of grocery stores, a chain of gas chambers, and a national game. After that, we can write our Constitution.

Are you a Bokononist?" I asked him. "I agree with one Bokononist idea. I agree that all religions, including Bokononism, are nothing but lies.

Are you a Bokononist?” I asked him. “I agree with one Bokononist idea. I agree that all religions, including Bokononism, are nothing but lies.

Történelem! – írja Bokonon. – Olvassátok, és sírjatok!

All of the true things that I am about to tell you are shameless lies

It was the belief of Bokonon that good societies could be built only by pitting good against evil, and by keeping the tension between the two high at all times.

E mi ricordai del Quattordicesimo libro di Bokonon che avevo letto da cima a fondo la sera prima. Il Quattordicesimo libro si intitola "Che speranze può nutrire un uomo ragionevole per l'umanità su questa terra, tenendo conto dell'esperienza dell'ultimo milione di anni?" Non ci vuole molto a leggere il Quattordicesimo libro. Consiste in una parola e in un punto. Eccoli: "Nessuna

Guardati dall'uomo che lavora sodo per imparare qualcosa, e una volta che l'ha imparato, non diventa più saggio di prima." Ci dice Bokonon. "Egli nutre un sentimento omicida per la gente ignorante che non ha dovuto faticare per la propria ignoranza

As Bokonon says: “Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.” The

Mindenkinek, akit illet: Körülbelül ennyi ember élte túl San Lorenzón a tenger befagyását követő szeleket. Ezek az emberek elfogták a Bokonon nevezetű ál-szentembert. Idehozták, a középre állították, és ráparancsoltak: magyarázza meg nekik, de pontosan, miben sántikált a Mindenható Isten, és most mitévők legyenek. A szélhámos pedig tudtukra adta, hogy Isten nyilvánvalóan meg akarja ölni őket, valószínűleg azért, mert torkig van velük, és hogy ha van bennük egy csipetnyi jóérzés, meg is halnak. És mint látható, ezt meg is tették.

So I was privileged to see the last rites of the Bokononist faith. We made an effort to find someone among the soldiers and the household staff who would admit that he knew the rites and would give them to "Papa". We got no volunteers. That was hardly surprising, with a hook and an oubliette so near. So Dr. von Koenigswald said that he would have a go at the job. He had never administered the rites before, but he had seen Julian Castle do it hundreds of times. "Are you a Bokononist?" I asked him. "I agree with one Bokononist idea. I agree that all religions, including Bokononism, are nothing but lies." "Will this bother you as a scientist," I inquired, "to go through a ritual like this?" "I am a very bad scientist. I will do anything to make a human being feel better, even if it's unscientific. No scientist worthy of the name could say such a thing." And he climbed into the golden boat with "Papa". He sat in the stern. Cramped quarters obliged him to have the golden tiller under one arm. He wore sandals without socks, and he took these off. And then he rolled back the covers at the foot of the bed, exposing "Papa's" bare feet. He put the soles of his feet against "Papa's" feet, assuming the classical position for boko-maru. "Gott mate mutt," crooned Dr. von Koenigswald. "Dyot meet mat," echoed "Papa" Monzano. "God made mud," was what they'd said, each in his own dialect. I will here abandon the dialects of the litany. "God got lonesome," said Von Koenigswald. "God got lonesome." "So God said to some of the mud, 'Sit up!'" - "So God said to some of the mud, 'Sit up!'" "'See all I've made,' said God, 'the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars.'" - "'See all I've made,' said God, 'the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars.'" "And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around." - "And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around." "Lucky me; lucky mud." "Lucky me, lucky mud." Tears were streaming down "Papa's" cheeks. "I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done." - "I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done." "Nice going, God!" "Nice going, God!" "Papa" said it with all his heart. "Nobody but You could have done it, God! I certainly couldn't have." - "Nobody but You could have done it, God! I certainly couldn't have." "I feel very unimportant compared to You." - "I feel very unimportant compared to You." "The only way I can feel the least bit important is to think of all the mud that didn't even get to sit up and look around." - "The only way I can feel the least bit important is to think of all the mud that didn't even get to sit up and look around." "I got so much, and most mud got so little." - "I got so much, and most mud got so little." "Deng you vore da on-oh!" cried Von Koenigswald. "Tz-yenk voo vore lo yon-yo!" wheezed "Papa". What they had said was, "Thank you for the honor!" "Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep." - "Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep." "What memories for mud to have!" - "What memories for mud to have!" "What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met!" - "What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met!" "I loved everything I saw!" - "I loved everything I saw!" "Good night." - "Good night." "I will go to heaven now." - "I will go to heaven now." "I can hardly wait..." - "I can hardly wait..." "To find out for certain what my wampeter was..." - "To find out for certain what my wampeter was..." "And who was in my karass..." - "And who was in my karass..." "And all the good things our karass did for you." - "And all the good things our karass did for you." "Amen." - "Amen.

Hazel’s obsession with Hoosiers around the world was a textbook example of a false karass, of a seeming team that was meaningless in terms of the ways God gets things done, a textbook example of what Bokonon calls a granfalloon. Other examples of granfalloons are the Communist party, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the General Electric Company, the International Order of Odd Fellows—and any nation, anytime, anywhere. As Bokonon invites us to sing along with him: If you wish to study a granfalloon, Just remove the skin of a toy balloon.

NEVER INDEX YOUR OWN BOOK As for the life of Aamons, Mona, the index itself gave a jangling, surrealistic picture of the many conflicting forces that had been brought to bear on her and of her dismayed reactions to them. “Aamons, Mona:” the index said, “adopted by Monzano in order to boost Monzano’s popularity, 194–199, 216 n.; childhood in compound of House of Hope and Mercy, 63–81; childhood romance with P. Castle, 72 f; death of father, 89 ff; death of mother, 92 f; embarrassed by role as national erotic symbol, 80, 95 f, 166 n., 209, 247 n., 400–406, 566 n., 678; engaged to P. Castle, 193; essential naïveté, 67–71, 80, 95 f, 116 n., 209, 274 n., 400–406, 566 n., 678; lives with Bokonon, 92–98, 196–197; poems about, 2 n., 26, 114, 119, 311, 316, 477 n., 501, 507, 555 n., 689, 718 ff, 799 ff, 800 n., 841, 846 ff, 908 n., 971, 974; poems by, 89, 92, 193; returns to Monzano, 199; returns to Bokonon, 197; runs away from Bokonon, 199; runs away from Monzano, 197; tries to make self ugly in order to stop being erotic symbol to islanders, 80, 95 f, 116 n., 209, 247 n., 400–406, 566 n., 678; tutored by Bokonon, 63–80; writes letter to United Nations, 200; xylophone virtuoso, 71.” I showed this index entry to the Mintons, asking them if they didn’t think it was an enchanting biography in itself, a biography of a reluctant goddess of love. I got an unexpectedly expert answer, as one does in life sometimes. It appeared that Claire Minton, in her time, had been a professional indexer. I had never heard of such a profession before.