Kurt Vonnegut

“ If it was good enough for your grandfather, forget it ... it is much too good for anyone else!
Gramps Ford, his chin resting on his hands, his hands on the crook of his cane, was staring irascibly at the five-foot television screen that dominated the room. On the screen, a news commentator was summarizing the day's happenings. Every thirty seconds or so, Gramps would jab the floor with his cane-tip and shout, "Hell, we did that a hundred years ago!" ”

“ The cares of this world will soon drop away like a cloak of thorns and I shall know peace. By the time you find this, I will be gone.'"
"Gosh," said Willy brokenly, "he didn't even get to see how the 5000-mile Speedway Race was going to come out." ”

“ For them, the poignancy of the prospective Big Trip had been dulled somewhat, through having been mentioned by Gramps about once a day for fifty years.
"Dr. Brainard Keyes Bullard," continued the commentator, "President of Wyandotte College, said in an address tonight that most of the world's ills can be traced to the fact that Man's knowledge of himself has not kept pace with his knowledge of the physical world." ”

“ The battle also appeared on the screen of the television set in the police station, where the Fords and their captors watched with professional interest.
Em and Lou, in adjacent four-by-eight cells, were stretched out peacefully on their cots.
"Em," called Lou through the partition, "you got a washbasin all your own, too?"
"Sure. Washbasin, bed, light—the works. And we thought Gramps' room was something. How long has this been going on?" She held out her hand. "For the first time in forty years, hon, I haven't got the shakes—look at me!"
"Cross your fingers," said Lou. ”

“ Em said dreamily. "I wonder what kind of wires you'd have to pull to get put away in solitary?"
"All right, pipe down," said the turnkey, "or I'll toss the whole kit and caboodle of you right out. And first one who lets on to anybody outside how good jail is ain't never getting back in!" ”