Catch-22

Love and Sex “The one I picked out for you was married for a short time to an elderly schoolteacher who slept with her only on Sundays, so she’s really almost as good as new.”

Milo the Mayor “...but Milo was Vice-Shah of Oran and his person was sacred.

Nately’s Old Man “... Italy will survive this war and still be in existence long after your own country has been destroyed..... All great countries are destroyed.” “You talk like a madman” “But I live like a sane one.” “Anything worth dying for is certainly worth living for.”

Socio-economics...”old money is better than new money and...the newly rich are never are never to be as esteemed as highly as the newly poor.” “We’ll never be abot to convince anyone we’re superior without our uniforms.”

More Socio-economics “What a lousy earth!”

Democracy? “The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them.” “Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can’t stop them from doing.” “They don’t have to show us Catch-22. The law says they don’t have to.”

“Like us. Join us. Be our pal. Say nice things about us.... Become one of the boys.” “Don’t worry about the men. They’ll be easy enough to discipline and control when you’ve gone.” “If they don’t want to fly more missions, let them stand up and do something about it the way I did.”

Business Courage, Might, Justice, Truth, Liberty, Love, Honor and Patriotism...”Milo realized a fantastic profit from both halves of the project for doing nothing more than signing his name twice.”...”the Germans are also members in good standing of the syndicate... ” Milo was all washed up until he opened his books to the public and disclosed the tremendous profit he had made.”

Business-2 “But the business of government is business.” “What’s good for M&M Enterprises is good for the country.” “Killed by his own greed.” “Milo had been caught red-handed in the act of plundering his countrymen, and, as a result, his stock had never been higher.”

Religion and Values The Eternal City “The tree of life and of knowledge of good and evil, too.”/”It’s a chestnut tree. I ought to know I sell chestnuts.”

Religion-2 “The chaplain had sinned, and it was good.” “It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to run vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philantrophy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.

Religion-3 “... Then berated himself repentantly, for to pray for their safety was to pray for the death of other young men he did not even know. It was too late to pray....“ “Christ, Chaplain! Can you imagine that for a sin? Saving Colonel Cathcart’s life! That’s one crime I don’t want on my record.”

Religion-4 “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.”

Truth and Lies “They had no right to lie to me!” “Of course they had a right.... People had a right to do anything that’s not forbidden by law” “I like the way you lie. You’ll go far in this world if you ever acquire some decent ambition.” “I’m a university professor with a highly developed sense of right and wrong, and I wouldn’t try to deceive you. I wouldn’t lie to anyone.” (What would you do if one of the men in the group asked you about this conversation?) “I’ would lie to him.”

Idealism “Between me and every ideal I always find Scheisskopfs, Peckems, Korns and Cathcarts. And that sort of changes the ideal.” “It’s still a miracle, a miracle of human intelligence and human endurance.”

Illusion and Reality “So many monstrous events were occurring that he was no longer positive which events were monstrous and which were really taking place.” Dreams Wintergreen is probably the most influential man in the whole theater of operations. He’s not only a mail clerk, but he has access to a mimeograph machine.”

Depersonalization and Dehumanization “I’m right here, Sergeant Knight.” “Words cannot express the deep personal grief I experienced when your husband, son, father or brother was killed, wounded or reported missing in action.” “There’s no one inside.” “Her dead body was still lying on the pavement“ “I never paid for it in my life.” “They arrested Yossarian for being in Rome without a pass.”/”They apologized to Aarfy....”

Characters Lt. Scheisskopf, Col. Scheiskopf, Gen. Scheiskopf Orr and Sweden Snowden: “It was easy to read the message in his entrails. Man was matter, that was Snowden’s secret. Drop him out the window and he’ll fall. Set fire to him and he’ll burn. Bury him and he’ll rot like other kinds of garbage. The spirit gone, man is garbage.”