We probably could have saved ourselves, but we were too damned lazy to try very hard ... and too damn cheap. Vonnegut once suggested carving this quote into a wall on the Grand Canyon, as a message for flying-saucer creatures.

More from Kurt Vonnegut

• I think that novels that leave out technology misrepresent life as badly as Victorians misrepresented life by leaving out sex.
• Life is no way to treat an animal, not even a mouse.
• There is a tragic flaw in our precious constitution, and I don’t know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nutcases want to be president. This was true even in high school. Only clearly disturbed people ran for class president.
• There is a tragic flaw in our precious constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nutcases want to be president. This was true even in high school. Only clearly disturbed people ran for class president. A Man Without A Country
• We are here on Earth to fart around. Don’t let anybody tell you any different.
• We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell you any different. A Man Without A Country