God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference.' Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present, and the future.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
About This Quote

The quote above comes from the book Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. It's about Billy Pilgrim, who ends up in the middle of the Second World War and is sent on a suicide mission. At the end of the war, he is returned to Earth, which has become a very different place. Billy, who has been unconscious for most of this time, gets back home to his wife and children.

He is attacked by his friends who are all furious with him for being alive after what he has been through. They are also angry with him for being alive in the first place. But Billy says that if he were dead, he would have never had the chance to see so much of what he did while he was alive.

So, even though his friends are upset at him, they have got to understand that he has seen so much more than they have because he lived longer than them.

Source: Slaughterhousefive

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