“Every writer I know has trouble writing.”

I don’t understand the process of imagination-though I know that I am very much at its mercy.

Where were you born?” “On a battlefield,” [Yossarian] answered. “No, no. In what state were you born?” “In a state of innocence.

Peace on earth would mean the end of civilization as we know it.

Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.

While none of the work we do is very important, it is important that we do a great deal of it.

But that was war. Just about all he could find in its favor was that it paid well and liberated children from the pernicious influence of their parents.

Mankind is resilient: the atrocities that horrified us a week ago become acceptable tomorrow.

I don’t believe in miracles because it’s been a long time since we’ve had any.

He knew everything there was to know about literature, except how to enjoy it.

Anything worth dying for is certainly worth living for.

History was a trash bag of random coincidences torn open in a wind.

Something did happen to me somewhere that robbed me of confidence and courage and left me with a fear of discovery and change and a positive dread of everything unknown that may occur.

Frankly, I’d like to see the government get out of war altogether and leave the whole field to private industry.

He was a self-made man who owed his lack of success to nobody

The 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.

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.

Words and images run riot in my head, pursuing, flying, clashing, merging, endlessly. But beyond this tumult there is a great calm, and a great indifference, never really to be troubled by anything again.

If trouble comes when you least expect it then maybe the thing to do is to always expect it.

I don’t think necessity is the mother of invention. Invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness – to save oneself trouble.

If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.

I hate banks. They do nothing positive for anybody except take care of themselves. They’re first in with their fees and first out when there’s trouble.

The trouble with a liar is he can’t remember what he said.

Sometimes I am two people. Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble. They fight.

I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.