Who Said It?
"They're trying to kill me."
Yossarian
"There was only one catch and that was Catch-22... Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't."
Paradox
"Your leg belongs to the U.S. government. It is no different than a gear or a bedpan."
Dehumanisation
"Open your eyes Clevinger! It doesn't matter..."
"Man was matter... Drop him out a window and he'll fall, set fire to him and he'll burn. The spirit gone, man is garbage."
After Snowden dies, Yossarian realises the futility of life, especially in war, emphasising the dehumanisation in the military. This quote is in the narration after the full scene of his death is finally shared.
"You're inches away from death everytime you go on a mission. How much older can you be at your age?"
Dunbar
Personification
"It doesn't make sense. It isn't even good grammar. What the hell does it does it mean to disappear somebody?"
Bureaucracy/absurdity of bureaucratic system.
"You have no respect for..."
"...excessive authority or obsolete traditions."
"Dear Mr., Mrs., Miss., or Mr. and Mrs. Daneeka, words cannot express the deep personal grief I felt when your husband, son, father, or brother was killed, wounded, or reported missing in action."
After Doc Daneeka 'died', the letter sent home to his wife.
"I want to win medals too."
Milo
Imagery
"It was too late to pray; yet that was all he knew how to do."
Faith/losing faith
"The country was in peril; He was jeopardising..."
"...his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them."
"Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.”
Introducing Major Major
"I don't know how we're going to write this one up without making ourselves look bad."
Colonel Korn
"There were no more beautiful days. There were no more easy missions. There was stinging rain and dull chilling fog..."
Pathetic fallacy
"They aren't going to put good old Aarfy in jail."
"There are now fifty and sixty countries fighting in this war..."
"...Surely so many countries can't all be worth fighting for."
“What a lousy earth! He wondered how many people were destitute that same night even in his own prosperous country..."
Said by Yossarian through the narration as he walks through a destroyed Rome, contemplating the bleakness of the world, especially in war. Towards the end of the novel (Chapter 39).
"The important thing is to keep him pledging."
Captain Black.
"Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear."
Literary Allusion, 'The Ballad of Ladies of Bygone Time' by François Villon, emphasising melancholy
"It is better to live on one's feet than die on one's knees."
Morality
Said by the Old Man, but Nately disagreed, saying "It's better to die on one's feet than live on one's knees."
"Their alternative—there was an alternative of course, as Milo..."
...detested coercion and was a vocal champion of freedom of choice—was to starve."
"What's good for M&M Enterprises is good for the country."
Note written by Milo replacing the morphine in the first aid kit Yossarian tried to access to help Snowden.
Also left in place of removed twin-carbon-dioxide cylinders from inflating chambers in life jackets.