Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller
Joseph Hellerwas an American satirical novelist, short story writer, and playwright. The title of one of his works, Catch-22, entered the English lexicon, to refer to a vicious circle, wherein an absurd, no-win, contradictory choice, particularly in situations in which the desired outcome of the choice is a bureaucratic, or legal impossibility for artificial reasons, and hence, then regardless of the chosen option, a paradoxically negative outcome is a certainty. Although he is remembered primarily for Catch-22, his other works...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth1 May 1923
CountryUnited States of America
I could not write about a subject sacred to me because I would be too flippant. Fortunately, there are no subjects sacred to me.
There was only one catch and that was catch 22
The problem with the loneliness I suffer is that the company of others has never been a cure for it.
If character is destiny, the good are damned.
Everybody is as unstable as water.
Men went mad and were rewarded with medals.
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.
From men motivated by moral certitude, history teaches, no lasting good ever comes.
The promises of maniacs, like those of women, are not safely relied upon.
... there is wisdom in madness and strong probability of truth in all accusations, for people are complete, and everyone is capable of everything.
I've come to look upon death the same way I look upon root-canal work. Everyone else seems to get through it all right, so it couldn't be too difficult for me.
All of our religions but the Judaic and the Greek think more of us dead than alive.
How did I get here? Somebody pushed me. Somebody must have set me off in this direction and clus-ters of other hands must have touched themselves to the controls at various times, for I would not have picked this way for the world.
Erogenous zones are either everywhere or nowhere.