How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
[Yossarian:] "I'll bet I can name two things to be miserable about for every one you can name to be thankful for…"
[Mrs. Scheisskopf:] "Be thankful you're healthy."
"Be bitter you're not going to stay that way."
"Be glad you're even alive."
"Be furious you're going to die."
"Things could be much worse," she cried.
"They could be one hell of a lot better," he answered heatedly. (18.30-38)
Yossarian's pessimistic outlook on the world is absolute. He staunchly refuses to see any positive possibility.
Quote #8
In a world in which success was the only virtue, he had resigned himself to failure. He was painfully aware that he lacked the ecclesiastical aplomb and savoir-faire that enabled so many of his colleagues in other faiths and sects to get ahead. He was just not equipped to excel. He thought of himself as ugly and wanted daily to be home with his wife. (25.2)
The chaplain considers himself a failure out of sheer unluckiness. He thinks he is out of place among the army men and attributes it to nothing less than his own ineptitude.
Quote #9
He [the chaplain] could feel the skillful hand of fate motivating him imperatively. Twice that day already, he realized now, Major Major had come racing toward him inside the ditch; and twice that day the chaplain had stupidly postponed the destined meeting by bolting into the forest. (25.30)
After looking for Major all morning and missing him twice, the chaplain considers himself destined to meet with Major Major and help Yossarian reduce the number of missions. But all comes to naught when the chaplain fails to see Major Major and, worse, thinks that the Major has no intention of helping Yossarian.