Donald Barthelme - Life Quotes

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Is death that which gives meaning to life? And I said, no, life is that which gives meaning to life.

Donald Barthelme
Being merciless, while not exactly easy, is finally a job like any other. It's theater. It's got nothing to do with my private life. Still, sometimes when I used to yell at my kids, I wondered if I was maybe... putting a little too much into it. They're grown now, so the question is moot. They seem OK. Roderick is at Harvard and Betsy is married and has a couple of kids of her own.

Donald Barthelme
Do you think intelligent life exists outside this bed? one student asked another, confused as to whether she was attending the performance, or part of it.

Donald Barthelme
I keep wondering if, say, there is intelligent life on other planets, the scientists argue that something like two percent of the other planets have the conditions, the physical conditions, to support life in the way it happened here, did Christ visit each and every planet, go through the same routine, the Agony in the Garden, the Crucifixion, and so on...

Donald Barthelme
I went out into the garage and told Bill an interesting story which wasn't true. Some people feel you should tell the truth, but those people are impious and wrong, and if you listen to what they say, you will be tragically unhappy all your life.

Donald Barthelme
Can the life of the time be caught in an advertisement? Is that how it is, really, in the meadows of the world?

Donald Barthelme