Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Joseph Heller

Quote by Joseph Heller

“The chaplain had sinned, and it was good. Common sense told him that telling lies and defecting from duty were sins. On the other hand, everyone knew that sin was evil and that no good could come from evil. But he did feel good; he felt positively marvelous. Consequently, it followed logically that telling lies and defecting from duty could not be sins. "The chaplain had mastered, in a moment of divine intuition, the handy technique of protective rationalization, and he was exhilarated by the discovery. It was miraculous. "It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue, slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, 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.”

Quote by Joseph Heller

Work

Catch-22

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller

Joseph Heller was an American novelist known for his satirical and black humor style. His novel 'Catch-22' is considered one of the greatest novels of the 20th century and has had a profound impact on literature. more

You May Also Like