“Please keep your victory
But give me little death.”
"The Apocalypse Song"
Marry Me (2007)
Context: All your praying moments amount to just one breath.
Please keep your victory
But give me little death.
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St. Vincent (musician) 73
American singer-songwriter 1982Related quotes
[...] They offered them as much of the Evil Forest as they cared to take. And to their great amazement the missionaries thanked them and burst into song.
Source: Things Fall Apart (1958), Chapter 17 (p. 139)
Coming Out Speech (2014)
Context: There are too many kids out there suffering from bullying, rejection, or simply being mistreated because of who they are. Too many dropouts. Too much abuse. Too many homeless. Too many suicides. You can change that and you are changing it. But you never needed me to tell you that. That’s why this was a little bit weird. The only thing I can really say is what I’ve been building up to for the past five minutes. Thank you. Thank for inspiring me. Thank you for giving me hope, and please keep changing the world for people like me. Happy Valentine’s Day. I love you.
“It pleases me greatly because it keeps asking me questions …”
Afterword to his short story "The Children's Story" (1963).
The Children's Story (1982)
Context: I asked all kinds of people of every age, "You know the 'I pledge allegiance…'" but before I could finish, at once they would all parrot it, the words almost always equally blurred. In every case discovered that not one teacher, ever — or anyone — had ever explained the words to any one of them. Everyone just had to learn it to say it. The Children's Story came into being that day. It was then that I realized how completely vulnerable my child's mind was — any mind for that matter — under controlled circumstances. Normally I write and rewrite and re-rewrite, but this story came quickly — almost by itself. Barely three words were changed. It pleases me greatly because it keeps asking me questions … Questions like what's the use of "I pledge allegiance" without understanding? Like why is it so easy to divert thoughts and implant others? Like what is freedom and why is it so hard to explain? The Children's Story keeps asking me all sorts of questions I cannot answer. Perhaps you can — then your children will…
Source: Testament of Youth (1933), Chapter 12 [quoting a 1924 letter]
“Give me knowledge or give me death!”
As quoted in "An Interview with Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Carey Horwitz, Library Journal, Apr. 15, 1973: 1131
Various interviews
Context: All these people talk so eloquently about getting back to good old-fashioned values. Well, as an old poop I can remember back to when we had those old-fashioned values, and I say let's get back to the good old-fashioned First Amendment of the good old-fashioned Constitution of the United States—and to hell with the censors! Give me knowledge or give me death!
Fiorinda, in Chapter 7, "A Night-Piece on Ambremerine"
Mistress of Mistresses (1935)
Reported in George Gimarc, Punk Diary: The Ultimate Trainspotter's Guide to Underground Rock, 1970-1982 (2005), p 183.