Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
JOSEPH HELLERSome men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
JOSEPH HELLERWhat do you do when it rains?” The captain answered frankly. “I get wet.
JOSEPH HELLERWhen people disagreed with him he urged them to be objective.
JOSEPH HELLERThere is no disappointment so numbing as someone no better than you achieving more.
JOSEPH HELLERI don’t understand the process of imagination-though I know that I am very much at its mercy.
JOSEPH HELLERWhen 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.
JOSEPH HELLERAnything worth dying for is certainly worth living for.
JOSEPH HELLERWhere were you born?” “On a battlefield,” [Yossarian] answered. “No, no. In what state were you born?” “In a state of innocence.
JOSEPH HELLERI’m not running away from my responsibilities. I’m running to them. There’s nothing negative about running away to save my life.
JOSEPH HELLERHe was a self-made man who owed his lack of success to nobody
JOSEPH HELLERYou know, that might be the answer – to act boastfully about something we ought to be ashamed of. That’s a trick that never seems to fail.
JOSEPH HELLERHe was going to live forever, or die in the attempt.
JOSEPH HELLERThe enemy is anybody who’s going to get you killed, no matter which side he is on.
JOSEPH HELLERIn the long run, failure was the only thing that worked predictably. All else was accidental.
JOSEPH HELLERDeath to all modifiers, he declared one day, and out of every letter that passed through his hands went every adverb and every adjective.
JOSEPH HELLERThe laws of nature are only as immutable as the minds which promote them. Ignorance of the law is 9/10ths of the law. Just because you aren’t paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.
JOSEPH HELLER