Joseph Heller Quotes

I think I've discovered the secret of life - you just hang around until you get used to it.

I thank God for my failures. Maybe not at the time but after some reflection. I never feel like a failure just because something I tried has failed.

After spending 460 days as a hostage, I did emerge a fundamentally changed person. But I think, like everyone does as they grow older and probably wiser, I can look back at my earlier life - my history, my mistakes, the joy I felt as a young woman traveling the world - with some objectivity and even some humor.

It's always healthy to be taken down a notch, even though it's humbling.

There are things I can't force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.

I will always be looking back at the things I've gone through, thinking of the struggling people I've seen.

As years passed away I have formed the habit of looking back upon that former self as upon another person, the remembrance of whose emotions has been a solace in adversity and added zest to the enjoyment of prosperity.

Although it's painful at the time, most of the things that people have said about us negatively - some of them are true and you can work on them, and the ones that you don't agree with, you don't work on.

Life experiences can, at times, be quite humbling, but you learn from them. But I like the changes in my life and what kind of person they've made me into. I'm very open, not as judgmental as I was in my twenties, and a lot more compassionate.

I'm not cynical or bitter in any way. Life's too short; you get ripped off, but if you hold a grudge, it's going to affect you. You take it on the chin, you learn, you try not to make the same mistakes.

We need to accept that we won't always make the right decisions, that we'll screw up royally sometimes - understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it's part of success.

Some things are difficult to adapt to.

I believe all positive things and negative things are valuable because they shape you.

Critics can say horrible things. It only hurts when I agree with them.

Petty things don't bother me as much as they used to.

Criticism is part of the creative man's journey, and I appreciate it.

Sometimes it takes a good fall to really know where you stand.

No matter who you are, President of the United States or rock star, you are going to be criticized. So you can’t take it personally.

Long ago, I made up my mind that when things were said involving only me, I would pay no attention to them, except when valid criticism was carried by which I could profit.

When I started out, Jay Leno used to say you're not as good as you think you can be until at least your sixth year. I was like, what the hell is he talking about? 'Cause I was in my third year, and I thought, 'I got this.' I kept videos of myself performing, and in my fifth year I watched my third year and realized he couldn't have been more right.

The mistake, if I made one, in the late 1980s, was thinking I needed to change my game.

I had a lot of success for many years, and the critics had been so kind. Sometimes it's good to get cut down to size a little bit.

I didn't take constructive criticism the way I should have. When I finally caught up to that, that's when I went to being the MVP.

If you want to be honest with yourself, you have to take criticism, even if you attract adverse comments from others.

I've always been interested in how other people live their lives, which is why it's important to engage fully even in painful times. And out of that, I get to laugh.