Quote

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

Joseph Heller

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Joseph Heller
Age: 76 †
Born: 1923
Born: May 1
Died: 1999
Died: December 10
Autobiographer
Journalist
Novelist
Playwright
Prosaist
Screenwriter
Writer
New York City
New York
Answered
Innocence
State
Born
States
Battlefield
Battlefields

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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 through that warped, evil, scatological mind of His when He robbed old people of the power to control their bowel movements?
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¨ Oh, I´m not complaining. I know there´s a war on. I know a lot of people are going to have to suffer for us to win it. But why must I be one of them?¨
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There was no telling what people might find out once they felt free to ask whatever questions they wanted to.
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What do you do when it rains? The captain answered frankly. I get wet.
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...[A]nything worth dying for ... is certainly worth living for.
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There is no disappointment so numbing...as someone no better than you achieving more.
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I can't start writing until I have a closing line.
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Hungry Joe collected lists of fatal diseases and arranged them in alphabetical order so that he could put his finger without delay on any one he wanted to worry about.
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It's a wise person, I guess, who knows he's dumb, and an honest person who knows he's a liar. And it's a dumb person, I guess, whose convinced he's wise...-Bob Slocum
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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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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.
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He was sick with lust and mesmerized with regret
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Yossarian decided to change the subject. Now you're changing the subject. he pointed out diplomatically. I'll bet I can name two things to be miserable about for every one you can name to be thankful for.
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If character is destiny, the good are damned.
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Everybody is as unstable as water.
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Well, he died. You don't get any older than that.
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I am miracle ingredient Z-247. I'm immense. I'm a real, slam-bang, honest-to-goodness, three-fisted humdinger. I'm a bona fide supraman.
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He knew everything about literature except how to enjoy it.
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