“Newt remained curled in the chair. He held out his puny hands as though a cat's cradle were strung between them. 'No wonder kids grow up crazy. A cat's cradle is nothing but a bunch of X's between somebody's hands, and little kids look and look and look at all those X's...''And?''No damn cat, and no damn cradle.”

“No wonder kids grow up crazy. A cat's cradle is nothing but a bunch of X's between somebody's hands, and little kids look and look and look at all those X's . . ." "And?" "No damn cat, and no damn cradle.”

“No damn cat, and no damn cradle.”

“See the cat? See the cradle?”

“I have graded my separate works from A to D. The grades I hand out to myself do not place me in literary history. I am comparing myself with myself. Thus can I give myself an A-plus for Cat’s Cradle, while knowing that there was a writer named William Shakespeare. The report card is chronological, so you can plot my rise and fall on graph paper, if you like:Player Piano BThe Sirens of Titan AMother Night ACat’s Cradle A-plusGod Bless You, Mr. Rosewater ASlaughterhouse-Five A-plusWelcome to the Monkey House B-minusHappy Birthday, Wanda June DBreakfast of Champions CWampeters, Foma & Grandfalloons CSlapstick DJailbird APalm Sunday C”

“This is something about your father?''This is something about you." Frank put his hand on my shoulder and he looked me in the eye. The effect was dismaying. Frank meant to inspire camaraderie, but his head looked to me like a bizarre little owl, blinded by light and perched on a tall white post.'Maybe you'd better come to the point.”

“Trout's leading robot looked like a human being, and could talk and dance and so on, and go out with girls. And nobody held it against him that he dropped jellied gasoline on people. But they found his halitosis unforgivable. But then he cleared that up, and he was welcomed to the human race.”