Joseph Heller Quotes

I'm not really rebellious. People think I am, but I'm not.

The forbidden things were a great influence on my life. I was forbidden from reading A Catcher in the Rye.

The public use of a man's reason must be free at all times…. But I hear people clamor on all sides: Don't argue! The military officer says: Don't argue, drill! The tax collector: Don't argue, pay! The minister: Don't argue, believe!

When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find that far more, and far more hideous, crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.

We are going through a fascistic time..

You’re loitering, citizen.” “Actually, I was hesitating.

Any kind of dictatorship, I'm uneasy. I just don't like dictators. I don't like crowds. I don't like hordes, and I don't like other people telling me what to do. This is probably a reaction against people telling me what to do when I was a kid. I won't join any group, espouse a cause against some other people.

I'm definitely not a rebel.

Like most dictators, Col Gaddafi detests the metropolis. His vision of Libya is a kind of Bedouin romantic medievalism, suspicious of universities, theatres, galleries and cafes, and so monitors the cities' inhabitants with paranoid suspicion.

I don't take well to rules.

Questioning authority can hardly be called our national pastime. We even make a philosophy out of fear. Fatalism, destiny, karma... are the favourite cultural holes we hide in when authority flogs us. And what's our tragedy.

I don't like rules, because rules, you have to follow.

Many times, I was told what to lead with on MSNBC. Many times, I was told what I was not going to do.

I couldn't follow nobody's rules.

I just want to put on a uniform - whoever it is.

The moment you start asking questions, you become public enemy number one.

Justice requires that to lawfully constituted Authority there be given that respect and obedience which is its due; that the laws which are made shall be in wise conformity with the common good; and that, as a matter of conscience all men shall render obedience to these laws.

Believe, obey, fight.

But again and again there comes a time in history when the man who dares to say that two and two make four is punished with death. The schoolteacher is well aware of this. And the question is not one of knowing what punishment or reward attends the making of this calculation. The question is one of knowing whether two and two do make four

I don't think it's entirely paranoid to suspect that one day, you won't be able to so much as question the primary tenets of anti-racism without going to jail.

As one might expect, authoritarianism will at times cause children and students to adopt rebellious positions, defiant of any limit, discipline, or authority. But it will also lead to apathy, excessive obedience, uncritical conformity, lack of resistance against authoritarian discourse, self-abnegation, and fear of freedom.

Rules are really weird things, aren't they? I feel like the more I do something, the more I see through rules. I see the reason to ignore it, but at the same time, "That's why they made that rule!"

I think we are constantly faced with the same decision. The decision to be blindly obedient to authority versus the decision to try and change things by fighting the powers that be is always, throughout history, the only decision.

Un-thread the rude eye of rebellion, and welcome home again discarded faith.

There are good reasons for being obedient, but being unable to be disobedient is not one of the best reasons.