Slaughterhouse-Five

by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Later on in life, the Tralfamadorians would advise Billy to concentrate on the happy moments of his life, and to ignore the unhappy ones—to stare only at pretty things

If this sort of selectivity had been possible for Billy, he might have chosen as his happiest moment his sundrenched snooze in the back of the wagon.

“Everything is all right, and everybody has to do exactly what he does.

The news of the day, meanwhile, was being written in a ribbon of lights on a building to Billy’s back. The window reflected the news. It was about power and sports and anger and death. So it goes.

Jesus and his father built it. They were glad to have the work. And the rabble-rouser was executed on it. So it goes.