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In case anyone cares... I was curious about the source of this quote and did a quick search. Although I found this exact quote many places on the web, the only

In case anyone cares... I was curious about the source of this quote and did a quick search. Although I found this exact quote many places on the web, the only source I could find in an KV book was in God Bless You, Dr Kevorkian, which (according to Amazon's "search inside", looks something like this): I am honorary president of the American Humanist Association, having succeeded the late, great, spectacularly prolific writer and scientist Dr. Isaac Asimov in that essentially functionless capacity. At an AHA memorial service for my predecessor I said, "Isaac is up in Heaven now." That was the funniest thing I could have said to an audience of humanists. It rolled them in the aisles. Mirth! Several minutes had to pass before something resembling solemnity could be restored. I made that joke, of course, before my first near-death experience--the accidental one. So when my own time comes to join the choir invisible or whatever, God forbid, I hope someone will say, "He's up in Heaven now." Who really knows? I could have dreamed all this. My epitaph in any case? "Everything was beautiful. Nothing hurt." I will have gotten off so light, whatever the heck it is that was going on.

brudgers 15y ago
Since it is a joke, Vonnegut used it on more than one occasion. There is a version in Timequake as well. That was where I originally read it [see: http://books.google.com/books?id=ggiR05avpw4C&pg=PT73&lpg=PT73&dq=asimov+vonnegut+timequake&source=bl&ots=tDzhqJICLr&sig=4p5QdWRlZBJ84FhkUEySwSdV-Q8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mlnrToGUE4uCtgektuibAw&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=ggiR05avpw4C&pg=PT73&#3...]
- bostonpete 15y ago
  Wow -- I've read most of his books and never realized he "plagiarized" himself like this. Thanks!
  - brudgers 15y ago
    So it goes.
rationalbeats 15y ago
I loved that book. It feels good sometimes to know where that quote came from without Google. My path to becoming a fan of his work started young when I was no more than 11 or 12 and sitting in a pediatrics waiting room with my dad on the East end of Long Island. The man sitting next to me cross legged with a pile of loose curly grey hair was reading a magazine and gruffing every few moments. I noticed my dad staring at him. Anyways when we left my dad said do you know who you were sitting next to? Of course not. That man was Kurt Vonnegut, I have a book on my book shelve you should read...That night I read the entire book Slaughter House Five. Then he gave me Galapagos, and then I was reading Schopenhauer, but I digress. I have since read every single one of his works, which is why I cloud have told you where that quote was from. Vonnegut introduced me to the American Humanist Association, of which I am a member now, which means I send them money every year, also contribute to their lobbying group in DC, and read their magazine Free Inquiry.
xpaulbettsx 15y ago
FWIW, I heard him speak at Ohio State and he told this joke as well.

brudgers 15y ago

Since it is a joke, Vonnegut used it on more than one occasion. There is a version in Timequake as well. That was where I originally read it [see: http://books.google.com/books?id=ggiR05avpw4C&pg=PT73&lpg=PT73&dq=asimov+vonnegut+timequake&source=bl&ots=tDzhqJICLr&sig=4p5QdWRlZBJ84FhkUEySwSdV-Q8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mlnrToGUE4uCtgektuibAw&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=ggiR05avpw4C&pg=PT73&#3...]

bostonpete 15y ago
Wow -- I've read most of his books and never realized he "plagiarized" himself like this. Thanks!
- brudgers 15y ago
  So it goes.

rationalbeats 15y ago

I loved that book. It feels good sometimes to know where that quote came from without Google. My path to becoming a fan of his work started young when I was no more than 11 or 12 and sitting in a pediatrics waiting room with my dad on the East end of Long Island. The man sitting next to me cross legged with a pile of loose curly grey hair was reading a magazine and gruffing every few moments. I noticed my dad staring at him. Anyways when we left my dad said do you know who you were sitting next to? Of course not. That man was Kurt Vonnegut, I have a book on my book shelve you should read...That night I read the entire book Slaughter House Five. Then he gave me Galapagos, and then I was reading Schopenhauer, but I digress. I have since read every single one of his works, which is why I cloud have told you where that quote was from. Vonnegut introduced me to the American Humanist Association, of which I am a member now, which means I send them money every year, also contribute to their lobbying group in DC, and read their magazine Free Inquiry.

xpaulbettsx 15y ago

FWIW, I heard him speak at Ohio State and he told this joke as well.