Catch-22

By Joseph Heller QUOTATION: He was a self-made man who owed his lack of success to nobody.
ATTRIBUTION: Joseph Heller (b. 1923), U.S. novelist. Catch–22, ch. 3 (1961).

QUOTATION: He had decided to live for ever or die in the attempt.
ATTRIBUTION: Joseph Heller (b. 1923), U.S. author. Catch–22, ch. 3 (1961).

QUOTATION: There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind.... Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to.
ATTRIBUTION: Joseph Heller (b. 1923), U.S. author. Catch–22, ch. 5 (1961).

QUOTATION: Frankly, I’d like to see the government get out of war altogether and leave the whole field to private industry.
ATTRIBUTION: Joseph Heller (b. 1923), U.S. novelist. Milo Minderbinder, in Catch-22, ch. 24 (1955).

QUOTATION: Like Olympic medals and tennis trophies, all they signified was that the owner had done something of no benefit to anyone more capably than everyone else.
ATTRIBUTION: Joseph Heller (b. 1923), U.S. novelist. Yossarian, in Catch-22, ch. 8 (1961).