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0dd310e
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He was going to live forever, or die in the attempt.
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Joseph Heller |
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7b5e7f6
|
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.
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Joseph Heller |
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f214047
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There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. 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 f..
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humor
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Joseph Heller |
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0023f37
|
A]nything worth dying for ... is certainly worth living for.
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Joseph Heller |
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a7df996
|
They're trying to kill me," Yossarian told him calmly. No one's trying to kill you," Clevinger cried. Then why are they shooting at me?" Yossarian asked. They're shooting at everyone," Clevinger answered. "They're trying to kill everyone." And what difference does that make?"
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Joseph Heller |
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b7c71f9
|
The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he is on.
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war
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Joseph Heller |
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891107b
|
He knew everything there was to know about literature, except how to enjoy it
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Joseph Heller |
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6d35411
|
It doesn't make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead.
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war
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joseph heller |
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c19693b
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They] agreed that it was neither possible nor necessary to educate people who never questioned anything.
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Joseph Heller |
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40fc615
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Insanity is contagious.
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Joseph Heller |
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41fbd91
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What is a country? A country is a piece of land surrounded on all sides by boundaries, usually unnatural. Englishmen are dying for England, Americans are dying for America, Germans are dying for Germany, Russians are dying for Russia. There are now fifty or sixty countries fighting in this war. Surely so many countries can't all be worth dying for.
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Joseph Heller |
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1c45a3a
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It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.
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Joseph Heller |
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1cb54b0
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What a lousy earth! He wondered how many people were destitute that same night even in his own prosperous country, how many homes were shanties, how many husbands were drunk and wives socked, and how many children were bullied, abused, or abandoned. How many families hungered for food they could not afford to buy? How many hearts were broken? How many suicides would take place that same night, how many people would go insane? How many cockr..
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Joseph Heller |
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8ae5f1d
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Why are they going to disappear him?' I don't know.' It doesn't make sense. It isn't even good grammar.
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Joseph Heller |
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7fc52fe
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The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them.
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independence
freedom
freedom-of-thought
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Joseph Heller |
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78f9811
|
Man was matter, that was Snowden's secret. Drop him out a window, and he'll fall. Set fire to him and he'll burn. Bury him and he'll rot, like other kinds of garbage. The spirit gone, man is garbage. That was Snowden's secret. Ripeness was all.
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nihilism
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Joseph Heller |
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0e58943
|
The Texan turned out to be good-natured, generous and likable. In three days no one could stand him.
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Joseph Heller |
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1b017d0
|
You have a morbid aversion to dying. You probably resent the fact that you're at war and might get your head blown off any second." "I more than resent it, sir. I'm absolutely incensed." "You have deep-seated survival anxieties. And you don't like bigots, bullies, snobs, or hypocrites. Subconsciously there are many people you hate." "Consciously, sir, consciously," Yossarian corrected in an effort to help. "I hate them consciously." "You're..
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Joseph Heller |
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d28fdbd
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Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three. Even among men lacking all distinction he inevitably stood out as a man lacking more distinction than all the rest, and people who met him were always impressed by how unimpressive he was.
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Joseph Heller |
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6e5b085
|
From now on I'm thinking only of me." Major Danby replied indulgently with a superior smile: "But, Yossarian, suppose everyone felt that way." "Then," said Yossarian, "I'd certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way, wouldn't I?"
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Joseph Heller |
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8eb074c
|
Do you know how long a year takes when it's going away?' Dunbar repeated to Clevinger. 'This long.' He snapped his fingers. 'A second ago you were stepping into college with your lungs full of fresh air. Today you're an old man.' 'Old?' asked Clevinger with surprise. 'What are you talking about?' 'Old.' 'I'm not old.' 'You're inches away from death every time you go on a mission. How much older can you be at your age? A half minute before t..
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Joseph Heller |
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d1840ac
|
When I look up, I see people cashing in. I don't see heaven or saints or angels. I see people cashing in on every decent impulse and every human tragedy.
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Joseph Heller |
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0c4a01d
|
There's nothing mysterious about it, He's not working at all. He's playing. Or else He's forgotten all about us. That's the kind of God you people talk about, a country bumpkin, a clumsy, bungling, brainless, conceited, uncouth hayseed. Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of Creation? What in the world was running throug..
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Joseph Heller |
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2e2faff
|
Well, he died. You don't get any older than that.
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Joseph Heller |
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a5325d7
|
He was a self-made man who owed his lack of success to nobody.
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Joseph Heller |
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4c0771d
|
What do you do when it rains?" The captain answered frankly. "I get wet." --
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Joseph Heller |
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b156953
|
What do you do when it rains?" The captain answered frankly. "I get wet."
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Joseph Heller |
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b7d54f3
|
Morale was deteriorating and it was all Yossarian's fault. The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them.
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war
yossarian
wwii
ironic
rights
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Joseph Heller |
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4c444bc
|
You have deep-seated survival anxieties. And you don't like bigots, bullies, snobs or hypocrites. Subconsciously there are many people you hate." "Consciously, sir, consciously," Yossarian corrected in an effort to help. "I hate them consciously."
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Joseph Heller |
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c423f50
|
Destiny is a good thing to accept when it's going your way. When it isn't, don't call it destiny; call it injustice, treachery, or simple bad luck.
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Joseph Heller |
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833a325
|
He was never without misery, and never without hope.
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Joseph Heller |
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39fa6f2
|
Where were you born?" "On a battlefield," [Yossarian] answered. "No, no. In what state were you born?" "In a state of innocence."
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Joseph Heller |
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8fa397c
|
There was no telling what people might find out once they felt free to ask whatever questions they wanted to.
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Joseph Heller |
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f1ff212
|
He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt.
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Joseph Heller |
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9e62093
|
Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.
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Joseph Heller |
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f93d416
|
Who's they?" He wanted to know. "Who, specifically, do you think is trying to murder you?" "Every one of them," Yossarian told him. "Every one of whom?" "Every one of whom do you think?" "I haven't any idea." "Then how do you know they aren't?" "Because..." Clevinger sputtered, and turned speechless with frustration. Clevinger really thought he was right, but Yossarian had proof, because strangers he didn't know shot at him with cannons e..
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murder
paranoia
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Joseph Heller |
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9d16acb
|
Surely there can't be so many countries worth dying for.' Anything worth living for,' said Nately, 'is worth dying for.' And anything worth dying for,' answered the sacrilegious old man, 'is certainly worth living for.
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Joseph Heller |
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54de860
|
What would they do to me," he asked in confidential tones, "if I refused to fly them?" We'd probably shoot you," ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen replied. We?" Yossarian cried in surprise. "What do you mean, we? Since when are you on their side?" If you're going to be shot, whose side do you expect me to be on?" ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen retorted"
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Joseph Heller |
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962edaa
|
Sure, that's what I mean,' Doc Daneeka said. 'A little grease is what makes this world go round. One hand washes the other. Know what I mean? You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.' Yossarian knew what he meant. That's not what I meant,' Doc Daneeka said, as Yossarian began scratching his back.
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Joseph Heller |
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3c6d301
|
Catch-22 did not exist, he was positive of that, but it made no difference. What did matter was that everyone thought it existed, and that was much worse, for there was no object or text to ridicule or refute, to accuse, criticize, attack, amend, hate, revile, spit at, rip to shreds, trample upon or burn up.
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Joseph Heller |
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5782906
|
You have no respect for excessive authority or obsolete traditions. You're dangerous and depraved, and you ought to be taken outside and shot!
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war
right-wingers
conservatives
conservatism
military
authority
|
Joseph Heller |
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9791e70
|
To Yossarian, the idea of pennants as prizes was absurd. No money went with them, no class privileges. 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.
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yossarian
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Joseph Heller |
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4fffd9f
|
Men," he began his address to the officers, measuring his pauses carefully. "You're American officers. The officers of no other army in the world can make that statement. Think about it."
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Joseph Heller |
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64defbc
|
She was the epitome of stately sorrow each time she smiled.
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Joseph Heller |