They couldn’t him because he was Tarzan, Mandrake, Flash Gordon. He was Bill Shakespeare. He was Cain, Ulysses, the Flying Dutchman; he was Lot in Sodom, Dreirdre of the Sorrows, Sweeney in the nightingales among trees. He was miracle ingredient Z-247.
Colonel Cathcart was impervious to absolutes. He could measure his own progress only in relationship to others, and his idea of excellence was to do something at least as well as all the men his own age who were doing the same thing even better.
You pompous, rotund, neighborly, vacuous, complacent... – Yossarian.
Colonel Cargill was so awful a marketing executive that his services were much sought after by firms eager to establish losses for tax purposes.
Like all the other officers at Group Headquarters except Major Danby, Colonel Cathcart was infused with the democratic spirit: he believed that all men were created equal, and he therefore spurned all men outside Group Headquarters with equal fervor.
He began to wonder with genuine concern just what sort of shithead the Pentagon had foisted on him.
Dear Mrs., Mr., Miss, or Mr. and Mrs. Daneeka: Words cannot express the deep personal grief I experienced when your husband, son, father, or brother was killed, wounded, or reported missing in action.
I frequently feel I’m being taken advantage of merely because I’m asked to do the work I’m paid to do.
When I grow up I want to be a little boy.
Every writer I know has trouble writing.
The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them.
The Texan turned out to be good-natured, generous and likable. In three days no one could stand him.
I think that maybe in every company today there is always at least one person who is going crazy slowly.
All through the night, men looked at the sky and were saddened by the stars.
The enemy is anybody who’s going to get you killed, no matter which side he’s on.
Success and failure are both difficult to endure. Along with success come drugs, divorce, fornication, bullying, travel, meditation, medication, depression, neurosis and suicide. With failure comes failure.
I’m not running away from my responsibilities. I’m running to them. There’s nothing negative about running away to save my life.
I can’t start writing until I have a closing line.
He was a self-made man who owed his lack of success to nobody.
I wouldn’t want to live without strong misgivings.