slaughterhouse five

"Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue ... Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say, Napoleonic times."
--Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five

the marriage plot

"In Madeleine's face was a stupidity Mitchell had never seen before. It was the stupidity of all normal people. It was the stupidity of the fortunate and beautiful, of everybody who got what they wanted in life and so remained unremarkable."
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"And the artists were the worst, the painters and writers, because they believed they were living for art when they were really feeding their narcissism."
--Jeffrey Eugenides, The Marriage Plot